Original Unreal Episode
by Cannonade
Summary: Based on the Unreal single player universe. Follows three prisoners a Brit, a Turk and a Canadian through their escape from the Vortex Rikers
1. 1 Vortex Rikers

Unreal

**Chapter 1 – The Vortex Rikers**

Malik was asleep as normal. Asleep in the confinements of his cell aboard the prison vessel Vortex Rikers. It wasn't the best way he hoped to endure in his long, sorrowful existence, but at least he was in space. However, he always wanted to see the stars, but when locked in a cramped cell on a high security prison transport, he never got to see them. In his cell, he was dreaming of earth. Blue skies, white clouds, bright sunshine on a good, Turkish day. But then emerged the bitter reality of things. The day of his capture. The metallic monolith of the Vortex Rikers docked with the station way above the atmosphere in orbit.

And next there were rumbles and violent vibrations. He must have been dreaming of earthquakes again. But he was staring into blackness now, his dreams no longer existent in his world. Next came the sounds of delighted screams, mingled with the shouts of the security guards. This could only mean one thing. He was back to reality again. He could even smell the rusting of metal and stale blood, and hear the humming of the plasma gates at the door to his cell. Within the instant, there was a loud crash and he was thrown violently from his bed to the cold metal floor.

The ship was trembling and the air was filled with the shouts and screams of the prisoners in the cells. Malik gathered his senses, suddenly remembering that he was back aboard the Vortex Rikers and not in his dream world of earth and beyond. This was the worst ship on this edge of the galaxy, he thought to himself and the furthest thing in the universe from the freedom of his dreams. But it didn't take a fool to realise something wasn't quite right. The emergency lighting was flashing ahead, and he could smell the burning essence of sulphur which stung his eyes. He scrambled to his feet, grabbing onto the metal bed frame as the floor shook violently. Looking through the plasma gate of his cell, he saw the guards running up and down the walkway.

"Hey, what the hell is going on?" shouted Kargoth.

Her British voice was always the strongest and most frequently heard during the prison riots on the Vortex Rikers. Her voice was not lost among the shouts of the other prisoners and the wailing of the ship's alert siren. However, the guards rampaging down the walkway didn't even glance at her.

"Will you listen to me?" Kargoth shouted.

"Don't waste your breath," Riker's Canadian accent replied. "The ignorant bastards will just ignore you."

"They will do when I break someone's neck!"

Malik nodded in agreement, looking aimlessly around the perimeter of the gate closing him into the cell. He knew from experience that trying to break through the plasma gate would only result in frustration and a nasty headache. However, if the Vortex Rikers was going down, he wasn't going to die like a caged rat in this desolate cell. He had to get to the emergency shuttle. The head guard walked passed, and glared viciously at Kargoth, who was still shouting out.

"What do you want, Ash?" she sneered.

"You need to watch your tongue," Ash replied.

"Hey Ash?" Malik called to him. "What the hell's going on?"

Ash turned to him, sneering slightly. "What do you think's going on, genius?" he replied, sarcastically. "We're going down, can't you feel it? Now shut your gob and strap yourself in."

"Are you insane? Turn off the gates! Let us get to the shuttle!"

Ash smirked and walked off, taking his ever-present log book with him. Malik watched him leave with amazement, feeling his anger come back. The fury seemed to rise so rapidly and so dangerously that he felt it was enough to burst right through the plasma gate and tear his head off.

"Ash!" he shouted after him.

"Ash, open the bloody gates!" Kargoth exclaimed. "Don't leave us in here!"

"Wait a minute! Open the bleeding gates you son of a…"

But a tremendous jolt rocked the ship and sent Malik hurtling across the cell into the rear wall. He felt the sickening introduction of bone to iron and then he blacked out into nothingness, and felt no more

Later, perhaps hours or even days, Malik woke up. His body felt battered and dehydrated, but somehow, he survived the crash. His head was spinning, and he felt the dull pulse of pain in his left temple. He'd take ages to recover from this one. Shaking off the nausea, he looked up to review the situation. The plasma gate was disabled, and beyond the doorway of the cell, freedom beckoned.

"Where are we?" he moaned. "Is anyone here?"

"Yeah, we hear you Malik," it was Kargoth who replied.

So someone else did survive! He hoped to Hell that it wasn't Ash as well. He clambered to his feet, feeling dizziness sweep him momentarily, but it passed on. He emerged from his cell, the emergency lights still flashing, several sparks issuing from the computer screen. He saw that Kargoth was walking along the walkway, and he looked into Riker's cell, happy enough that he was sat on the bed, recovering.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Never felt better," Riker shook his head. "Next silly question."

"Ok, where the hell are we?"

"On a planet," Kargoth replied, bluntly.

"Oh, I would never have guessed that one."

"Look, this is an uncharted system, we know nothing about it."

"So what do we do?" Riker asked. "Stay here?"

"What, and wait for earth to come to our rescue and put us back inside some god forsaken cell? Fuck you Riker, freedom is too important to me," Kargoth replied. "I say we leave the ship and explore our open world."

"We don't even know what's out there."

"There's only one way to find out," Malik shrugged.

"See!" Kargoth pointed a finger at Malik. "_He_ agrees with me!"

"Even if we do leave," Riker began. "We have no weapons."

"But the guards do."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, if we're the only survivors, we can nick 'em."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Malik shrugged again.

"Sounds like suicide to me," Riker shook his head.

"Have it your way," Kargoth replied. "You coming out Malik?"

"Look, we can leave no one alone," Malik replied pointedly. "Either we all go or we all stay, I'm not leaving anyone by themselves, be it out there on the planet's surface or in here aboard the Vortex Rikers."

"Alright then, I'll go by myself."

"You're insane," Riker shook his head.

"That follows being on this ship."

Kargoth turned and walked off, heading towards the lift. Malik watched her head towards it, Riker not moving off the bed in his cell. Kargoth called down the lift, and it slammed down to the deck at her feet, but she did not get on it.

"Are you going or not?" Riker yawned.

Kargoth didn't respond, and Malik felt a satisfied smirk creep to his face. Kargoth wouldn't go alone; she didn't dare, and she wasn't that stupid. She wouldn't want to be left alone on this world not knowing where the hell she was. She clenched her fists and then spun round to look at the two men.

"Not without company," she sighed.

Riker laughed, Malik's smirk breaking into a smile.

"I knew you wouldn't," he shook his head.

"Anyone want to leave this junkyard behind for good?" Kargoth asked.

"I'm through with that," Riker grinned.

He got to his feet, feeling fully recovered since coming round from the crash. He joined Malik out on the walkway, and they met Kargoth by the lift and stepped onto it, heading up to the deck above. Maybe the Vortex Rikers wasn't that far in the universe from the freedom of Malik's dreams after all. As the lift ascended and locked into the second deck, Kargoth led them off and they came across a body.

"Well, look who it is," she sneered.

"Ash?" Malik sounded hopeful.

"Got it in one."

Malik bent down beside the body of Ash and rummaged about for a weapon, but there was none. He cursed under his breath, but he soon found something which could have been of equal value. He picked it up, brushed off some dust particles and held it up into the flashing lights.

"Well, what do you know," he proclaimed. "A universal translator!"

"That could come in handy when we reach the surface," Kargoth replied.

"Good of him to leave it lying around," Riker nodded.

Malik glanced at him. "He's dead."

"Well, he could have fallen on it and broke it."

Riker shrugged, Kargoth laughing and Malik shaking his head. They continued on down the walkway, but Riker cut them off outside a cell. He was looking into one of the cells, the dead body of a prisoner lying on the bed. On the small table was a leather bound book, and that seemed to catch his eye.

"I wonder what old Dregor has to say for himself," he murmured.

"You shouldn't read people's diaries," Malik stated.

"What's the harm when he's dead?"

He picked up the book and turned to the most recent page, which was dated two days ago. When stuck inside a confined cell on a rickety old prison vessel, there was little you could to amuse yourself except keep diaries. However, that only went to say when amusement wasn't classed as starting a riot or attacking other prisoners and guards.

"So, what does he say?" Kargoth pressed on.

"Hang on, his handwriting's a bit messy," Riker replied.

"Here, give it to me," Malik replied.

He took the book from the man's grip, getting a startled shout back in reply, but no resistance. Malik took out the universal translator and switched it on; listening with pleasure at the sound it gave. This proved it was working alright.

"It says," he began. "Found some more maggots in me broth today. I swear that this ship is infested with something. How stuff like that can get aboard ships like this I will never have a clue. And I tell you, if that woman down in cell 5 keeps giving me death stares, I swear I'll rip out her larynx."

Riker laughed, glancing at Kargoth.

"That'll be you then," he said.

"Rip out my larynx, eh?" Kargoth snarled. "Hmm, we'll see."

She grabbed the book from Malik and threw it at the dead body of Dregor. The spine slammed into his nose, drawing blood, which smelled awful seeing as he had been dead for some time now.

"Rip out my larynx will ye," she shook her head.

"Look, we really need to be moving," Malik cut in.

"Don't kill him," Riker warned Kargoth. "The ship did that for you."

"Curse the ship! I would like to have wrung his neck!" Kargoth spat.

"Well, you can try. But don't expect it to do much damage."

"You can't kill a corpse, Riker."

"I bet you'd try it, though."

"Quit the bickering!" Malik snapped. "Let's move!"

Taking no more chances with arguing about things which were never going to happen, Kargoth and Riker ended their fight and followed Malik towards the doors. However, they were barred and they weren't getting out. Kargoth could hear the sound of reverberation coming from a mechanical source. She side stepped away from the door and found herself looking down into a vent.

"Prisoners eight over nine escaping," the computer stated.

It's voice was a mess.

"You two," Kargoth called. "Here."

She pointed down the vent, which was issuing with green smoke. Malik walked inside, but the translator bleeped him a message. He took it out from his pocket, holding the screen up to the light to read.

"This'll get us to the bridge," he stated.

"Then we can make our way out from there," Kargoth replied.

"So long as the way is signposted," Riker cut in.

"Here he is with the negative."

Kargoth shook her head, climbing into the vent after Malik. Riker went in behind her, and they trekked along up the vent. It was leading them up into the upper decks of the ship, which was where they would go to the exit rout. Suddenly, as they turned a corner, Malik stopped their advance, Kargoth crashing into him and Riker into her.

"Malik, what the hell?" Kargoth asked.

"Quiet," Malik hissed.

"Why?" Riker queried.

"Up there."

Malik pointed ahead into the green smoke. Kargoth narrowed her eyes against it, seeing what he had seen. There was a large, hefty looking creature up ahead, with what looking like huge blades on its wrists and dreadlocks on its head. It looked down at them, and suddenly took flight, its pace quite frightening. Malik issued a sigh of relief.

"What the fuck was that?" Riker asked from the rear.

"I'm open to suggestions," Malik replied.

"What ever it was, it didn't look friendly," Kargoth replied.

"I say we press on."

"With that thing up there?" Riker queried.

"Yes, with that thing up there."

"What if it tries to kill us? Call me blind, but did you see those blades?"

"I did for sure," Kargoth replied darkly.

"Look, you wanted to do this," Malik cut in.

"I'm not saying go back, am I?"

"But you ain't saying move on, are you?"

"So you mean to stay here?" Riker asked, his tone fearful.

"No way!" Kargoth snapped. "We stick to the fucking plan."

"Then let's stop wasting time and get a move on," Malik growled.

He was beginning to get frustrated, wishing now that he had woken up to Ash, who might be a little more professional in this situation. However, Ash was more likely to pull a trigger on him that either Kargoth or Riker. And maybe these pair were better company, seeing as he had been on speaking terms with them. He always liked to riot with them on occasions, but he had lost his other counterparts, Bane and Essa. They had been sent into the chambers below for death by electric chair.

Malik shuddered at the thought of the chair, for he had been told frequently by Ash that he would end up in it. But if Kargoth was never sent there, no one else would get there now Bane and Essa were gone. It was Essa's seventeenth birthday and she celebrated by calling everyone up for a prison riot. It was a very memorable occasion, and her biggest present was a trip to the chair and a short electrocution.

Coming out of thought by a hard prod from Kargoth, Malik made his move upwards along the shaft. Perhaps that bore them some time so they wouldn't end up walking into the back of that creature. They moved along through the green smoke, turning several corners blocked by pipes before arriving at the other end. Malik sat down with his legs forwards and kicked open the hatch. That creature must have replaced it as it fled. And, as said by the translator, they were looking down at the bridge.

"Bingo," Malik mumbled.

"Now we're in business!" Kargoth proclaimed.

She shook hands with Riker as Malik climbed down the shaft, hung off the edge and dropped down onto the deck of the bridge. He walked out towards the pilot's console, hearing the metallic thud of Kargoth's feet as she climbed down. He took out the universal translator, not surprised as it bleeped a message as he approached the console. He looked at the log as he heard Riker slam into the deck with force. Clearly, he had jumped from the shaft rather than dropped.

"Idiot," Kargoth snapped.

"I'd like to see you do better," Riker replied.

"I dropped down, I never fell off."

"Come off it! That was a perfect landing!"

"Yeah, until you fell over."

"Quiet!" Malik snapped. "Hear this."

He scanned back up to the top of the translator, readying the log he had downloaded from the pilot's console. Kargoth and Riker stopped their arguing and walked over to Malik, standing around him as he read from the panel.

"It says," Malik began. "We've been caught in the planet's gravity and we seem to be spiralling down towards it. Clearly something had knocked us out of the shipping lane, and I think it might have been a rouge comet interfering with our scanners again. We'll shortly be crashing down, and we've set up a warning for all prisoners and crew members to strap themselves in for the descent to the planet."

"Nothing on our location?" Riker asked.

"Not here," Malik replied. "We could try the other consoles."

Kargoth wasn't told twice. She walked over to the Captain's chair, seeing that the log panel was still active between the other two broken consoles. She tapped into it, scanning down to the most recent log.

"Anything?" Malik asked.

"Nothing about the planet," Kargoth shrugged. "Just about us."

Riker grinned. "What does it say about us?"

"Things are getting painfully tiresome around here. Of all the prison ships in all of the galaxy, I had to be the captain of the Vortex Rikers. We have prison riots nearly every day, and it's getting ridiculous. Yeah, the security guards keep saying that they have things under control, but they always seem to be shipping prisoners constantly between their cells and the medical bay."

"Now he knows why the V Rikers is so infamous," Malik smiled.

"Well, the sucker got his dues," Riker laughed. "He's dead now."

"So are most of them, saver this one," Kargoth replied.

The other two jumped, looking around for someone else. However, they watched as Kargoth stepped down away from the captain's console, crossed the deck and approached the navigator's chair. The man was still there, but he was badly injured. Kargoth prodded him in the chest. He twitched, gave out a strangled cry and then remained motionless, blood slowly trickling from his mouth.

"He didn't last long," she summarised.

"Sure," Malik shook his head. "What does the console say?"

Kargoth pushed the chair out of the way and activated the log console, which was still operable. Meanwhile, Riker sat in the Captain's chair, leaning back into it, looking quite comfy. Malik glanced at him.

"Captain B. Riker of the prison transport vessel Vortex Rikers," he stated.

"Your name and the title Captain don't go," Malik shook his head.

"Yeah, but my name goes with the ship's name."

He laughed contentedly to himself, getting off the chair to wonder over towards the navigation console as Malik went over there. Kargoth had finished scanning down to the latest log made by the navigator.

"Navigator's log," Kargoth began. "We have entered the atmosphere of an uncharted planet in this unknown system. We are being pulled in by the gravity and any control we now have over the ship is gone. We recommend that the crew prepare for a crash landing immediately."

"Fat lot of use that did," Riker shrugged.

"That's fine for the crew," Malik glared. "They don't supply the cells with seat belts."

"They expect us to use the walls instead."

Riker rubbed the back of his head, still feeling the ache from where he had been catapulted into the wall. That would soon come up in a nice purple bruise which would show up something wonderful on his shaved head. Kargoth wandered over to one of the doors, but it was locked as a mechanism.

"Locked," she stated.

"We'll have to drop down to the lower deck," Malik stated.

He went first, almost hooking his ankle into one of the cracks in the broken floor, but he made it to the lower deck with no broken bones. From where she stood, Kargoth jumped down, crashing to the deck without over balancing and falling over. She gave Riker a smug glance, who glared at her in return. He too jumped down, but his landing was not as choreographed as Kargoth's. He smashed into the deck and fell forwards, rolling over onto his back as he smacked his body against the floor. He looked up at Kargoth, who had walked over and was towering above him.

"How the heck do you do that?" he sounded dismayed.

"Face the facts Riker," Kargoth shrugged. "Women are just physically superior."

"Yeah right, just get me up before I trip you over."

Smirking with satisfaction at such a victory, Kargoth extended her hand towards Riker, who took it thankfully. She pulled him to his feet, though he wished she could have done so with a little less force.

"You two ready?" Malik queried.

"Ready when you are," Kargoth replied.

"Aren't I the Captain here?" Riker asked.

"You? The cat's mother could do a better job."

"Well thanks very much."

"I said, are you two ready?" Malik pressed on.

"And I said ready when you are," Kargoth snapped.

Malik shook his head and carried on, a smirk coming to his face when he realised how much he enjoyed hearing Kargoth and Riker argue. Not that he'd ever admit that of cause, for he would be faced with Riker's irritating sighs and Kargoth's irritating sarcasm. They were both as bad as each other, but he would be no where without them now. He'd possibly be dead, but there was a huge possibility that everyone aboard the Vortex Rikers died in the crash. Then what would have happened? Probably nothing, but he was beginning to get the feeling that they'd be faced with something pretty big when they reached the planet's surface outside the hull of the ship.

At the far end of the lower deck, Kargoth called up a lift, and the three prisoners mounted it before it descended to the area below. Malik recognised this area as the shaft used when transporting casualties to the medical bay. He knew this trip all too well, for he had done it many times before. They stepped off the lift down below and entered another room, which was dark except for a few dim emergency lights. The door ahead was closed, and shut tight by the looks of things.

"See if you can get that open," Malik looked at Kargoth.

"I'll try," she replied.

She moved forwards, but Riker caught her by the arm.

"What?" she asked.

"Listen!" he hissed.

They stayed silent. From beyond the door, they could hear the sound of footsteps. There were people beyond it! Some more survivors of the crash. But it could have been that weird creature they'd seen in the shaft earlier on. Suddenly, the footsteps were joined by another pair, which were fast and far off. They heard a dull growling sound, like the noise made by wild cats back on earth.

"Shit!" it was a human voice. "What the hell is that?"

Following this was a series of frantic pulse fire, and the sound of a taunting growl. Violent noises of attack came out, the sounds of tearing limbs drowned out by the terrible screams made by the humans as what ever it was killed them. The prisoners listened on intently, hearing further sounds from the creature. There was a final exclamation of pain and then the sound of a body dropping to the floor. Suddenly, the door lifted up.

"You opened it?" Malik glanced at Kargoth.

"I didn't touch anything," Kargoth hissed.

The creature was the same one, or similar to the one, they had seen a while back in the vents above the bridge. Again, it looked in their direction and ran away, disappearing into the misty corridors of the ship. Malik emerged from the doorway, Kargoth coming next and followed by Riker.

"Only one of them," Malik began. "And five of us."

"That thing killed _all_ of them?" Kargoth sounded amazed.

"So it would seem."

"Even I couldn't do that many in one go without getting injured."

"That's because you're not professional like me," Riker replied.

"Oh, and you are professional?"

"Well, no… but more so than you!"

"I'd sure like to see that…"

"Oh, cut it out for Hell's sake!" Malik snapped. "Take a look."

Malik knelt down on the floor besides a heap of body parts, pushed aside the bloody mess and pulled out a dispersion pistol. He grinned at it happily, sliding it into his belt. Seeing this with satisfaction, Kargoth and Riker then moved to rob two other corpses of their dispersion pistols.

"This is our lucky day," Riker grinned, broadly.

"Don't say that too soon," Kargoth warned. "Whatever that thing was, it's probably still here and five men armed with these things couldn't kill it. What makes you think that three of us could do any better?"

"We're hardened criminals."

"I like that point," Malik replied, smiling.

"Well let's prove that shall we," Kargoth replied.

She slid the dispersion pistol into her belt, Riker feeling his spirit rise as he did the same. Of all the prison riots he'd been involved in, whether at his doing or someone else's, this escape felt the best of all. There was three of them, and all got on as if they were the last people alive on earth and had been best friends for years. Well, they had known each other for that length of time pretty much. And even better still, with this new road to freedom now open to them all, they would get to slaughter and murder many things on this planet without anybody caring except themselves. It sounded great.

With weapons clipped into belts and ready for some action since their escape, the prisoners headed on towards the medical bay, bending low to avoid the wire as they passed it along the corridor. Soon, they arrived into the familiar block of the medical wing, but it wasn't in the usual, tidy state. The medical officer was lying on the floor on his front, his blood oozing out around him. Kargoth skirted round passed the corpse, looking at one of the bodies which was crushed under a girder.

"This was Kriss," she stated.

"Not anymore she's not," Riker shook his head.

"This must have been at the centre of impact."

"Well, the crash must have hit this area quite hard," Malik nodded.

"Some medical room this is," Riker replied. "More like a tomb now."

"Pity the incinerator is inoperable."

He wandered over to the console, not reading the information from the log screen as his translator bleeped a message at him. He was proud of this translator falling nicely into his hands, and he thought he should at least use it.

"Very smug at that translator aren't you," Kargoth shook her head.

"Why not make the use of it whilst it's at hand," Malik shrugged.

"One can use things too much."

"Like you and your sniper rifle?" Riker countered.

"Well, one is never hasty to love a gun too much."

"Especially when you love it more than human life."

"Well, I wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case."

"As I was saying," Malik interrupted. "The chief medical officer says he's concerned at the number of casualties from the crash, never mind the prison riots before hand. He's concerned that they're going to run out of supplies before they reach the prison planet."

There was a sudden explosion from above in the ship's shafts, and a girder came crashing down on the neck of the already dead medical officer. The head was sent catapulting across the room, slamming into the wall and bouncing off to lie neatly under one of the hospital beds. Kargoth looked mildly amused at this, watching with fascination as the blood oozed from the neck, slowly and thickly. With the body already dead, the blood pressure would have been too low for the blood to spurt across the deck. Riker got the distinct impression that she was disappointed at this.

The prisoners moved on from medical, walking into one of the cargo holds which was attached here. The crates were all jarred open and scattered across the deck, the two fans on the ceiling spinning round slowly, the left one a little faster then the one on the right. The room was mess, and they could tell from the open crates that the medical supplies were indeed running low. There were two dead people here; one crushed under the lid of a crate and the other sprawled out on the floor.

"Is the entire ship dead?" Kargoth queried.

"Come on," Riker replied. "If we're alive, there must be some survivors."

"They probably fled onto the planets surface, especially with those weird looking aliens aboard," Malik explained. "It wouldn't surprise me if the bastards were willing to let them open our cells and murder us in unconsciousness. It would be one less trauma for them to deal with, and it would distract the aliens from them while they fled."

"It's wonderful how the human mind works, ain't it?"

Kargoth shrugged. "I'd do that if I were them."

"Yeah, but you run on basic instinct."

"That's right. Only the strong survive; i.e. I save myself and let others perish."

"Well, we all operated that code here, so no misfortunes for any of us."

"We really need to keep moving," Malik pressed on.

"Why the hurry?" Kargoth queried. "If we get out there, who knows what'll happen."

"It's better than staying in this maggoty ship, anyway."

"I've never once seen a maggot."

"That's because if it was in your food, you'd eat it," Riker cut in.

"Yeah, nice juicy maggots full of vitamins, you know."

"More so than prison food, I bet you that."

"The maggots are added for the flavour."

"We need to see if anyone else survived the crash out there," Malik interrupted. "If they did, we really need to send out a distress call and hope someone from earth comes and picks us up."

"Rather it be Mars," Riker replied.

"Why Mars?" Kargoth asked.

"I can get into mining and start some riots down there!"

"Exactly what would cross my mind."

They started off on their way again, careful not to trip over the corpse as they made their way down the short flight of stairs. The doors opened ahead of them, one only going half way because the mechanism had jammed. The next room must be close to the engine, for the wall ahead was mainly the vents for fans, the huge blades turning. However, the one at the far end had stopped moving, and the grate was broken at the same place where one of the fan blades had snapped off.

"The crash made our escape rout," Kargoth sounded pleased.

"Perhaps the survivors who got out did it so they could escape," Riker added.

"Always a possibility," Malik replied. "All the more to hope that some others did get out of this mess."

"Only one way to find out."

Riker approached the fan, climbed into the vent, crawled under the fan blade and came out at the other end. Kargoth came next, and followed by Malik, who was already looking about in search of an escape rout. There was an industrial heavyweight lift at the far end, which would take them out to the loading bay, which joined to a shaft which lead outside of the ship. This was indeed, quite fortunate.

He walked over to the activation console, almost glad that the translator didn't bleep a message here. He pushed the button on the console, watching as the wheel next to him turned round. Above, the lift crossed over from the platform and moved down the mechanism, landing on the ground below. Hurriedly, in case he missed the return, Malik jumped onto the lift next to Riker and Kargoth, who were both leaning on crates. Two of them had been jarred open, and the other two were standing upright and undamaged.

The mechanism below by the console clicked back, and the wheel began to turn. The lift ascended up the mechanism, reached the high of the bars and crossed the room over the air conditioning shaft and joined up with the exist shaft. Malik jumped off the lift before it slid into place, Kargoth and Riker taking their time in pushing away from the crates and moving off the lift. They bent low under the fallen bar and into the room. They had hit a dead end, and there was no were to go now except a locked panel on the floor.

"That must be the exit shaft," Kargoth pointed to it.

"But how do we open it?" Riker asked.

"I'll check the security officer's log," Malik replied.

He walked over to the console where the chair was, the security officer slumped in his chair, battered and bruised from the damage. He would have been hit from the crash landing quite badly in this lower part of the ship. The translator bleeped him a message, and he held the screen up to the light to read it.

"That's not too good," he glared. "No one told him the ship was going down! He only knew when he felt the first shift of the gravity when the air conditioning shaft shut itself down. However, we can get out through that shaft in the floor."

"How does it open?" Kargoth pressed on.

"We break the glass on that emergency panel."

Malik pointed to the glass panel on the wall. Within it was a handle, which clearly was the mechanism for opening the panel on the floor. Riker walked over to it, raised his hand into a fist parallel with his head and smashed it into the glass. It shattered to the floor, not drawing blood for it was only safety glass. He gripped the lever on the handle and pulled it round, watching as the panel on the floor lifted up.

"Great!" Riker proclaimed. "The road to freedom!"

The three of them walked to the shaft, which was just big enough to fit a large sized person into it, either by fat or by muscle. This couldn't have been the way any survivors got out or the way any of those weird aliens got inside.

"Volunteers?" Kargoth queried.

"Seeing as you were so desperate to leave the ship behind," Riker replied, glancing at her. "I think you should volunteer."

"Leave it be Riker," Malik warned. "We're all as eager to taste freedom as her."

"Supposing there are survivors, what if they cage us up again?"

"Then you can lecture us all you want."

Taking this lightly, Riker decided to take the plunge first. He sat down at the mouth of the vent, hanging is legs down inside. He levered himself down, landing on the ground below, which was metal and stained with blood. He looked above, moving aside as Malik came down next, landing hard on the metal floor. They moved aside, Kargoth joining them, also landing with force. Slowly, they walked along the shaft, which was stained with blood from a few accidents or the crawling of injured crew members. Kargoth saw something among the blood. Stopping the others, she knelt down and picked up two flares.

"We may need these," she stated.

"You keep them then," Riker stated.

"We'll need to manage any thing we find well," Malik nodded.

"So it follows then," Kargoth added. "I carry the flares, Malik the universal translator, and you Riker, anything else that we come across we'll need."

"Like weapons?" he sounded hopeful.

"Now, that we'll see about depending on what we find."

"Let me guess, you'll get the sniper rifle."

"Got it in one!"

She grinned, imagining what pleasure she would gain if they did find a sniper rifle on the way, or even a Minigun or rocket launcher. The prisoners continued their tracks along the exit shafts, and they soon saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Beyond the ship, freedom beckoned, and there was no stopping them. Slowly, and no longer with any hesitation, they emerged into the light to the planet's surface.


	2. 2 Nyleve Falls

**Chapter 2 – Nyleve Falls**

The three prisoners walked out into the sunlight which was pouring in from above. Kargoth smiled with satisfaction at the cool breeze blowing on her face. It was much like Europe during early March; fresh and cool with the hint of winter lasting as long as it can. Not freezing cold like Eastern Europe, but not too warm like her native England. She shrugged and turned round to face Riker and Malik.

"May as well be Western Germany!" she laughed.

"Certainly a wintry European feel about it," Malik agreed.

"You came from Turkey right?"

"Correct."

"Isn't this a little too cold for you?"

"We still get a little cold in winter, you know."

"I beat you all!" Riker laughed. "I lived in Edmonton!"

"Show off," Kargoth mumbled.

"Anyway, to more important things," Malik cut in. "Now we're outside, where the hell do we go? Look ahead; there's some kind of house-like building. Perhaps the inhabitants of this world can help us."

"Really? Hell Malik, did you see the blades on those creatures?"

"How do we know they're the only things living here?"

"Well, we don't I guess. But I'd rather not take that chance."

"Coward," Riker replied.

Kargoth turned to glare at him, watching the grin come to his face. Shaking her head, she took her dispersion pistol out of her belt and began to walk towards the house and away from the protective hull of the stricken Vortex Rikers. Malik and Riker followed her, taking her lead and also taking their dispersion pistols out of their belts. Kargoth walked on ahead, looking down at a corpse of one of the security officers. She bent down and picked up a gun that was lying at his feet; an automag.

"This'll come useful," she noted.

"Why do you have to find the weapons?" Riker asked.

She shrugged. "I guess I just have what it takes."

"Now I know why you like going off ahead!"

Malik sighed and shook his head as the two of them began their bickering once again. He held the universal translator over the dead body, satisfied as it beeped a message at him. The small screen read 'The planet's gravity finally pulled us in. Some of the prisoners have escaped but we let them wonder off by themselves. They'll possibly only run into one of those weird things anyway; ah well, one less burden on our hands. For now, we have more important things to do like set up a distress beacon. Though who the hell will be around to get us off this god forsaken rock anyway?' Malik shook his head.

"This man thought us a burden," he commented out loud.

Riker and Kargoth stopped their bickering.

"He thought what about us?" Kargoth asked.

"We were a burden," Malik repeated. "Look's like a few of the prisoners on the other decks escaped too. The security guards let them wonder off in hope they'd get killed by one of those alien things. They planned to send a distress signal."

"Bastard."

"Let's see what else is around."

Malik deactivated the translator and headed in to the house, spying one of the beacons used to send the signal. The second one wasn't around. He approached it and tried to tap into it's system, but it was offline and drained of power. Looking around he saw some more flares and a clip of ammunition for the automag.

"Here you go Kargoth," he called her over.

He picked up the items and handed them to her.

"Something else to carry."

"I'll be running out of pockets soon," she commented.

She put the flairs into her pocket with the two she found at the Vortex Rikers and the automag clip into the other pocket. They left the house, spying Riker standing by a small pond of water by the cliff wall. They went over to him, following his gaze to what he was looking at. Malik sighed.

"There's the other beacon," he noted.

"So much for that distress call," Riker added.

"These creatures are trying to thwart our escape."

"Maybe they want us for their next course too."

"They ain't having me for dessert," Kargoth growled, reloading the empty automag.

Riker laughed. "More likely you'd be the starter!"

"Shut up Riker."

She raised the automag and sighted a small creature that was rabbit-like in appearance but only had two rear legs. She took aim and fired, watching as the animal was throw a little way into the air before collapsing in a heap by a small boulder. She smirked happily, spinning the gun around her finger before slipping it into her belt.

"What was that for?" Riker asked.

"Testing my aim," Kargoth replied.

"That was a poor innocent creature!"

"It was an alien critter. Anyway, that gun could have been broken."

"You could have fired it into the air."

Kargoth looked up into the air, watching the clouds move in the strong breeze. She eventually caught sight of a strange, reptilian like bird with green feathery wings. She shook her head and glanced back at Riker.

"Those birds wouldn't make a good meal," she noted.

"Do you always thing about your stomach?" Riker asked.

"Especially when it's empty."

"We're all hungry," Malik replied. "We'll have to find something."

"But where to? This is a dead end."

"Let's try the underside of our prison ship."

The three turned round to head back the way they came from, regarding with slight wonder the sight of the crashed Vortex Rikers. It was a real mess; it had cannoned straight into a cliff and tunnelled deep inside it. That part of the ship was undoubtedly crushed by the weight of all that rock on top of it. The lights on the outside were flickering madly but they were still able to make out the letters on the side of the hull that spelt 'Vortex Rikers' in large capital letters.

"Such a shame really," Kargoth stated. "She had such a reputation."

"Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that she went down," Malik replied.

"Anything to help earn prisoners better respect in the future."

"I'd drink to that."

"We all would," Riker replied. "We can do this. Let's get off this rock! We'll escape into the great beyond and battle forces of evil to get back to earth as free men… and women. We'll do this for people like Bane and Essa."

"As for Ash?"

"He can burn in hell."

Laughing amongst each other, they made their way over to the little trench the Vortex Rikers had smeared out for itself during the crash landing. They slid down the sides into it and crossed to the other side, spying another dead body on the bank. They climbed up and headed over to the body, but the translator did not beep a message. Malik's heart sank; he was almost becoming disappointed when there was no message to read.

"Get a load of that!" Riker exclaimed.

Malik and Kargoth looked up away from the body and towards the edge of the cliff where Riker was looking. Ahead was another large wall of rock with a huge water fall plunging down into a ravine of water below. There was nothing against this place; it was a beautiful planet even if it was nothing like earth.

"That knocks stars off High Force in England!" Kargoth laughed.

"Not quite Niagara Falls though," Riker replied.

"Alright, so your beloved Canada wins again!"

"Maybe not in the summer though."

He smirked and Kargoth laughed, Malik having to as well. This situation couldn't have worked out any better. They turned round and walked behind a large boulder which had fallen off from the cliff during the Vortex Riker's crash landing. And behind that was an opening to some sort of mine shaft. The inner walls were made of stone and the opening was supporting with metal girders.

"Through there?" Malik asked.

"What does your little thingy say?" Kargoth asked.

"Nothing at the moment."

"Then let's find out."

Riker and Malik took out their dispersion pistols while Kargoth readied her automag and they headed on towards the mine shaft. As they entered they heard two pairs of footsteps around the corner. People? Then they stopped and they could hear the sound of something heavier moving. Kargoth raised her hand to stop the team and they backed into the wall to listen.

"Jesus Christ!" a man cursed. "What the fuck is that beast?"

"What ever it is it's got…"

The second man trailed off as a large weapon fired. There were two screams followed by an impact sound and several body parts were catapulted from around the corner. They struck the brick wall and bounced off with a squelching noise, settling a muddy pile on the floor. The three prisoners stood there stunned for a moment, listening to the heavier footsteps moving closer.

"Weapons ready?" Kargoth asked.

"Do you think we're mad?" Riker asked.

"Well you were on the Vortex Rikers."

"Alright let's get that thing first!"

It came around the corner slowly but they didn't have enough time before they needed to shoot it. They fired at it, dodging the rockets it fired at them. It didn't take long to bring it down, but it's weight almost seemed to shake the walls as it fell and hit the floor. Kargoth lowered her automag and stared at the creature. It was huge and very heavily built; almost like a sumo wrestler.

"Crikey," she exclaimed. "What a Brute!"

"A quarter-pounder!" Riker laughed.

"I wouldn't want to make a burger out of that thing."

"I hate quarter–pounders."

"I'd agree with you there."

"For once," Malik commented.

They stepped over the body of the dead Brute and headed down the end of corridor where there was an empty lift shaft. Riker walked over to the wall and pushed the red button, a rushing sound coming from the shaft. They watched as the lift arrived and they stepped on it quickly. It rose as quickly as it came and they found themselves on another level of the small complex. There was another corridor which they walked down and they entered another room which had a single crate in.

Malik spotted a dead woman on the floor with an automag and an armour vest lying close to her side. She must have been killed before she had the chance to put the armour on and defend herself. He picked up and the automag and slid it into his belt, picking up the armour and handing it to Kargoth.

"We'll need some of this," Malik stated.

"Yes!" Kargoth laughed. "I get it first!"

"Only luck I came across a woman first."

"I'm feeling exposed already," Riker noted.

"You'll need an automag too, especially if we meet more of those creatures."

Riker spotted the lift and stood on it with Malik, waiting for Kargoth to get the setting right on the armour. She was grumbling about how small the dead guard had been; a security person with no muscles was to be sneered at! Eventually she joined the men on the lift, reaching out and pushing the button to send them up to the next level. As it stopped above, they came across another Brute which was waiting for them.

They took out their weapons and fired at it, Kargoth having to jump behind a crate to avoid one of its rockets. She jumped out again and aimed a single bullet at its face, watching as it punctured neatly into its left eye socket. It dropped its weapons and clutched at its bleeding eye, now presenting itself as an easy target for the three prisoners. They brought it down and it crashed into one of the girders, bending it back slightly.

"Can we use its weapons?" Kargoth asked.

Riker walked over to the dead Brute and tried to pick up one of its rocket launchers, but there was no way he could lift them. This creature would have had the strength of all the men on Earth never mind one! He stood up and shook his head.

"A weight lifter's nightmare," he said, simply.

"Grab that automag then," Kargoth pointed to it.

Riker spotted the gun next to the dead man and instantly bent to pick it up, sliding into his belt. Malik walked over to where the dead man was, and held the translator over him, watching as the message came in.

"What does it say?" Kargoth asked.

"It says the red fruit on these plants have healing powers," Malik replied.

Kargoth looked up and saw one of the plants growing next to the mine shaft.

"That's rich seeing as he's dead!" she commented.

"He died from his wounds," Malik replied. "One of those rockets hit him square in the chest. I don't think even conventional stitches would have saved this man's life never mind a few pieces of fruit!"

"Should we try them and see?"

Riker shrugged. "If you're hungry enough I guess."

Kargoth looked at the others, seeing that they were in no hurry to get up and try the orange coloured fruit. Sighing, she got to her feet and walked over to it, pulling the plant out of the ground and sitting down near the others. She took one of them off, inspecting it thoroughly. It didn't look much different from the oranges on earth; something that was never found on the Vortex Rikers. She'd missed fruit most of all on that ship, but not so much as pizza, chocolate and crisps. She bit into it, feeling the juice run out over her fingers tips. She looked up at the others who were watching her intently.

"Well?" Riker asked.

"No sick feeling," she replied.

"I doubt they're poisonous then."

"Certainly satisfying to the empty stomach!"

"What does it taste like?" Malik asked.

Kargoth stared at it for a few moments before putting the rest into her mouth. She tried to decipher the unusual sweet taste of the fruit as she passed the rest to Riker and Malik who immediately started to eat it.

"A mixture between mango and pomegranate I think!" she laughed.

"Hmm, I see what you mean," Malik replied.

The fruit seemed to go down well and they satisfied themselves on that for a while before they considered carrying on. As they got to their feet, Malik felt a strange feeling of energy wash over him. He hadn't felt this healthy since his days as a freeman in his home of Istanbul. That was a while before he was taken in as a prisoner at the age of 22 as an anti-religious protestor.

"They make you feel good," he noted.

"Ain't felt this good for a long time!" Riker agreed.

"Not until before the Vortex Rikers days," Kargoth added.

"I feel a need to carry on!" Malik exclaimed. "To pursue the escape!"

"I have to agree."

Before the feeling of intense physical fitness overwhelmed them, they carried on towards the outside again, spying too different ways to go. There was a shallow pit ahead of them with a metal door at the far end which was overhung with iron girders and then there was an opening at the side. Door controls perhaps? But all three agreed that the best option was to try the small opening to the left of the pit. At the foot of the stairs they saw the dead body of a woman.

"I knew her!" Kargoth proclaimed. "She was Kira!"

"The cow who was sent to low security?" Riker replied.

"Yeah. She desperately wanted to be with her brother in the safe zone."

"Can't blame her, she was awfully tiny. I think everyone felt a bit sorry for her."

"She hated Ash more than any of us!"

Malik laughed. "That commands respect."

He knelt down besides her with the translator, reading the message that came up on the screen.

"Here we go," Malik began. "I let my brother go on ahead while I strapped my broken leg up. Those Brutes are real nasty bastards! Just an impact shot from one of those rockets is enough to break your bones. My brother was trying to respond to a distress call sent by another vessel which is a little way from here. I believe he called it ISV-Kran; I think they detected our ship crashing here."

"Is her brother dead too?" Kargoth asked.

"I'd imagine so," Malik replied.

"What was that other ship called? ISV-Kran or something?"

"That's a Russian ship," Kargoth explained. "Very technical and powerful."

"The Russians always did have a thing for good technology."

"I know what the Russians are like!" Malik laughed. "My sister married a Russian, but they went to live in Bulgaria. It would seem like the Russians spent ages building a wonderful ship like ISV-Kran and then forget to add in living quarters for the crew!"

"I'm sure they're not that bad," Kargoth replied.

"My brother in law spent ages rewiring a plug once. It was a complicated little thing and he did the job ever so well; all the wires and the fuses went back in right place and he even tidied up the loose ends. And then what do he do? He put the top back on and forgot to put the screws in so it fell apart when he put it back!"

"When we get back to earth I must laugh at him."

"But if the Russians can help us, we'll be in good hands."

"How far away is this ISV-Kran anyway?" Riker asked.

"No idea, but I get the impression we'll have to look for it."

Malik got to his feet and put the translator away, instantly hearing the sound of familiar heavy footsteps. They all got out their automags and readied their aim as the Brute came around the corner. They took fired at the same time, momentarily confusing the creature, but not for long. It fired at them, but they ducked and were missed by the rockets completely. As with the others, it did not take long to kill it and it crashed the floor, toppling down the small staircase and landing at their feet.

They were beginning to get the hang of this. They moved on, stepping over the corpse and climbing the small staircase to the corridor above. They arrived into another warehouse type room which was full with crates. Smiling happily, Kargoth spotted another dead body with an ammunition belt besides him. She picked it up and strapped it about her waste, taking the time to refill her automag from it.

"Excellent!" she proclaimed. "Certainly better that we came in here."

"It'll be best to share that between us until we find more weapons," Malik explained.

"Right; we don't want to run out with those Brute things about!"

"Fortunately the dispersion pistols are self charging."

They all found another corridor leading away from the warehouse and they followed it down to the other end. As hoped for, they ended up on a platform above the pit they were standing near before. They climbed down and landed on the ground in front of the heavy iron door. Kargoth, her hands ready to grab for her automag again, moved forwards until the door opened automatically.

"What do you recon's through there?" she asked.

"Looks to me like mines perhaps," Malik replied.

"Underground military instalment?" Riker suggested.

"Could be anything, Kargoth."

"Well, there's only one way to find out!"

She indicated through the door and turned back to her male companions, a small smile on her face. Riker and Malik looked at each other, neither of their faces showing any sign of wanting to return to the safety of the Vortex Rikers. Returning Kargoth's smile, they joined her and walked through the opening, the heavy iron doors shutting behind them.


	3. 3 Rrajagar Mines

**Chapter 3 – The Rrajagar Mines**

The corridor they now walked along was well lit and it had all the feel of a mine; the air was slightly warm and a little stale. It said much for the fresh, cool breeze on the planet's surface. But in a way, the stale air wasn't too bad. It would make it easier to gauge a point when they were close to the surface. Eventually, they reached another area which was mostly rock above them. There were two areas; one to the left which was a cutting surrounding by steel walls and a cave ahead which certainly seemed more inviting.

"I'd suggest the cave would be the better option," Riker suggested.

"Because you feel there'll be less of those Brutes about?" Kargoth asked.

"Exactly! Isn't that how you'd judge it?"

"Most likely."

"I have a feeling we'll need to go in there first," Malik cut in.

"You always get funny feelings."

"Yeah, and this is one of them!"

"We'll see."

The three of them stepped down into the main area and one of the Brutes instantly came into view from the metal walled corridor. They fired on it unexpectedly, bringing it down in a few minutes. Riker turned to look at Malik.

"Are you sure you want to go down there?" he asked.

"Hmm, maybe not," Malik replied.

They made there way into the cave ahead, stopping to pick up some extra automag ammunition on the way. It had been left lying besides some of the human corpses that looked like security guards from the Vortex Rikers. As they entered the cave, a strange looking creature on the ceiling extended out its long tentacles and started firing white darts at them. Kargoth deflected one of them with her automag, returning the fire and bringing it down to the floor in a few shots.

"What the hell is that?" Riker asked, kicking it with his foot.

"Some kind of weird tentacle thing," Kargoth replied.

"What do you think about those darts then?" Malik asked. "Poisonous?"

"I don't know, but I'm certainly not going to find out!"

They stepped over the fallen creature and entered yet another cave which was guarded by a second Brute. They seemed to patrol just about everywhere. A second wave of fire brought it down immediately, Kargoth sitting down on a raised rocky surface to massage a bruise sustained from a rocket impact. Malik went to the opening ahead which was barred by a green laser forcefield, turning back to Riker and Kargoth.

"We're not getting through there," he noted.

"You were right then," Riker replied. "That corridor back there must lead to the power source to shut off that forcefield. I hope so anyway, because so long as that stays up, we're stuck here alone!"

"And none of us wants that."

"I'm not staying around for those aliens to come and kill me," Kargoth snarled.

She picked up a small rock and threw it at a barrel at the other end of the room. It exploded on contact and revealed a small passage which looked as though it had been dug into the wall. Riker moved towards it, lifting himself up onto the raised section to peer inside the passage.

"Pitch black," he growled. "Kargoth, pass me a flare."

Kargoth took one of them out of her pocket and threw one at him, watching to see what he found. Riker lit the flare and rolled it into the passageway. However, it turned a corner and disappeared from view.

"I'm going inside, I'll be back," he noted.

"Hang on!" Malik exclaimed. "Don't go off with out us."

"If it leads anywhere, I'll come back and tell you."

"Here, take the translator in case there's something."

Malik handed Riker the universal translator and watched him disappear into the tunnel. He sighed and sat down opposite Kargoth, fiddling with one of the straps on his leather boots. Kargoth took some bandages out of a med kit she'd found on one of the dead officers and bound them about her bruised leg and the small cut. She looked over to Malik who looked a little down.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"I was just wondering what'll happen if we escape," Malik replied.

"When we escape; if being on the Vortex Rikers has told me anything it's that you always have to think positive. Maybe that's why I never went insane on that boat. I kept telling myself every night that something will happen to set us free. And then what happened? We crash landed on this planet and we now have the chance to escape to Earth as free people."

"But what'll happen when we get home?"

She shrugged. "Maybe they'll lock us up again."

"Maybe this experience will change us enough to convince the authorities not to stick us on another prison ship."

"Do you really think it will?"

"What, convince the authorities?"

"No, change us."

"Who knows. It might."

"Could I ever stop being a murderer?"

"Maybe this is your chance to prove that you can."

"But I get such a thrill from killing things!"

Malik smiled. "I can't deny that. I murdered one man and I regretted it, but I can't say that it didn't give me a thrill. Controlling whether a person lives or dies is a powerful thing and I decided to choose death in that person's case. But here, we'll need to kill these alien things and trust me, I'm sure they'll want to kill us back! Perhaps, if we stick together, we'll learn to watch out for each other and end up saving lives rather than ending them."

"A nice point to make, Malik."

"I don't mean to be sentimental or anything…."

"Certain times just call for that."

Eventually, Riker came back out of the tunnel, the translator still in hand. Malik instantly got to his feet and took the device back, checking it over thoroughly for any damage it may have sustained. Kargoth got to her feet slowly, still trying to ease the throbbing sensation from the bruise.

"Did you find anything?" Malik asked.

"Just a dead end," Riker replied. "Some chap was trying to tunnel his way out but he was lying in there dead. There was another dead thing with him though; not one of those alien things we've seen before. It was a kind of greyish colour with four arms."

"Strange. Any messages?"

"Yeah, from this creature's book. That thing's certainly good at translating alien languages! The book said something about 'the creatures were still sent down by the angry gods to punish us, but I continue to pray for them. I'll have to travel to the Chizra Temple to attempt to release my burden'. Weird or what?"

"Religious bunch then."

"I never cared much for religious folk," Kargoth added.

"They might be able to help us; they sound reasonably benevolent."

"But if they can't speak English, how can they help us?"

"I'm sure we might be able to work something out."

"Hadn't we better deactivate that forcefield?" Riker asked.

"Then we can look for this Chizra Temple place."

The three of them turned away from the room and headed back to the way they came, travelling into the metal walled corridor. They all stepped onto the lift, Riker reaching back and pushing the button to activate it. The lift took them down to a lower level which lead to a rock face. They stepped off it with caution, Riker looking down and seeing a lava pit beneath them. He looked back at the other two, Kargoth raising an eyebrow and bending down to pick up a small rock. She dropped it down, watching as it melted into the surrounding molten rock.

"Now imagine that's your bones!" she noted.

"Actually I'd rather not," Riker replied.

Malik took a step forward to carry on, but was cut short by a white dart bouncing off the floor at his feet. He jumped slightly into the air, turning round and firing at a tentacle on the roof of the cave. The corpse of the creature fell off the ceiling and landed into the molten rock below, issuing a high pitched sound before melting. The three of them once again carried on, walking into yet another long, metal walled corridor.

They jogged down to the end of it into a small chamber which contained two generators. The devices were long and thin and towered from the floor right to ceiling. The glass around them revealed a long strip of pulsating electricity which cast a blue glow off the walls. Kargoth spotted a control panel opposite which contained two buttons. Malik confirmed with the translator that these switched off the power generators. Kargoth persisted and turned off the generators.

"Now let's leave this place behind us!" Riker proclaimed.

He took a step to leave, but the lights along the corridor had begun to turn themselves off. They stepped out, trying to follow them around the corner, but a metal bar had been raised to prevent they're escape.

"Well done Kargoth," Riker sighed.

"You wanted that forcefield lowering!" she snapped.

"But did you have to turn all the lights off?"

"How was I supposed to know that…"

"Quiet!" Malik hissed. "Listen."

The two shut up and listened intently. They could hear the distance bubbling of the molten magma in the cave, but they could also hear a soft, growling noise coming from further along the corridor. As quietly as she could, Kargoth lit a flare and rolled it along the floor down the passageway. It stopped at the wall and lit up a creature that was scaly and a greenish brown in colour. It had long blades on its wrists and sharp tusks near its mouth and what looked like dreadlocks hanging down its back. There was no mistaking it. It was the creature they saw on the Vortex Rikers.

"Crap, I knew that'd turn up!" Riker exclaimed.

At the sound of his voice, the creature came to attention and firing two balls of light in their direction. They all ducked and opened fire on the creature, backing off away from it as it made a lunge forwards. Malik hit it square in the head, splashing brain fluids along the wall. The alien landed on the floor with a soft thump, that sound followed by the metal bar raising and allowing them to escape.

"Let's hope they don't show up again!" Riker exclaimed.

"I wouldn't bank on that," Kargoth replied.

They escaped the darkened corridor at a run, being careful not to trip over outside and fall into the lava pit below. But their escape was blocked by another Brute and they had to bring that down before they could go any further. Eventually, they cornered it, and it killed itself by its own rocket, falling over into the lava pit below. Breathing a sigh of relief, they returned to the main site above via the lift and headed back to where the next opening way. As they hoped, the forcefield had been deactivated and they were able to pass through into the rest of the mines. It wasn't long before the universal translator beep a message at Malik from the sign above the doorway.

"Rrajagar Mines," he read aloud. "Strange name."

"And there I was hoping the aliens spoke English!" Riker replied.

"That was a no hoper from the start," Kargoth cut in.

"Let's see what these mines are like then."

Keeping their guns at the ready, they proceeded further into the mines, having to kill one of the Tentacles along the way. They travelled down another lift, making their way along a corridor before emerging into a cavern with another lava pit at the bottom, the bubbling of molten rock being the only thing they could hear. As they walked in, the floor gave way and a crack fell in, taking Malik with it. Malik grabbed onto the wall quickly, Kargoth and Riker dashing over to help him.

"Come on," Riker noted.

They both grabbed him by the arms and hauled him back up. Malik sighed with relief, looking down below and watching the chunk of ground melt into the lava. He got to his feet, taking a look around.

"Thanks," he told them.

"Any time," Riker replied.

"We can't let you crash and burn!" Kargoth laughed. "We need you most of all."

"We'll have to watch out for more of those," Malik explained.

They moved on slowly, having to jump out of the way as another block fell beneath their feet. Kargoth was unlucky that time, but she was able to dive to the ground before she fell. She climbed to her feet, brushing her trousers off before coming face to face with a strange, greyish creature with four arms.

"Crikey!" she exclaimed. "What's that?"

"That's one of those dead things I saw in that tunnel," Riker commented.

"You said they sounded benevolent?"

He nodded. "It sounded that way."

Kargoth looked back at the creature which was standing perfectly still, perhaps deciding what to make of the three humans. She lowered her weapon, extending an arm to the creature and it seemed to relax somewhat. It beckoned them over and turned away, jogging off down towards the end of the corridor. Intrigued, the three of them followed it and it eventually lead them to a dead end. It indicated to the wall with its four arms and a door moved aside, revealing some kind of strange weapon sitting on a platform.

From the left, one of the bladed creatures sprung out and attacked the four armed alien, slashing off its head with its blades. Taking no chances that the alien wanted to help them, Kargoth lead the fire on it until it collapsed to the floor, dead. They hadn't given it much time to respond. Interested, Malik wondered over to the opening, picking up the weapon while Riker and Kargoth inspected the dead four armed alien.

"I think you're right," Malik commented. "They do seem eager to help."

"Pity the poor thing had to die like that," Kargoth noted.

"That's rich coming from a murderer," Riker replied.

"I had nothing against this creature."

"You didn't have anything against your past victims!"

She shrugged. "They kept giving me strange looks."

Malik laughed. "Were they all men?"

Riker too laughed as Kargoth blushed.

"Most of them," she mumbled. "One of them had really nice eyes, too."

"And you killed him?" Riker asked, perplexed.

"I didn't feel ready to engage in a relationship. I was only 19!"

"As for your female victims?" Malik queried.

"They were just jealous all of the men liked me more. I think they thought it a little strange that they preferred me over them; seeing as most of them were dressed half naked and I mostly covered except my arms and face, I was too surprised! I can't deny that part of me didn't find it satisfying."

"What? Beating slappers or killing them?"

"A bit of both I think."

Malik wound an ammunition belt around his waste and put in some spare ammunition for the new weapon the four armed alien had introduced him to. They moved on and eventually came to a gap. There was a switch at the far end which Riker took aim at and shot. Soon after, a beam rose up out of the lava and bridged the gap, allowing them to cross the other side. They found themselves inside yet another cavern, but this one was deadly quiet from the sound of machinery and boiling lava. Kargoth wondered over to one of the walls from which protruded large, blue crystals that gave off a blue, shimmery light.

"I wonder what they are," she stated.

"I never liked chemistry," Riker noted.

"I thought you made explosives?"

"That's a little different than studying hydrocarbons!"

"That word's a bit technical for you Riker," Malik commented.

"Hey, you watch what you say."

"Take a joke Riker, take a joke."

"Hmm, I'll be keeping an ear out for you."

Malik looked at the crystal, taking out some of the ammunition for his new weapon. He held them up to it, noticing that they were a similar shape and the same colour. He took out the universal translator and held it up to the weapon, pleased that it gave him a message.

"This gun is a mining tool," he explained. "It uses Tarydium shards."

"What's Tarydium?" Kargoth asked. "An element?"

"Must be; I believe these crystals are Tarydium."

"What's that weapon called?"

"A Stinger; fires shards in rapid succession."

"Alien Kalashnikov," Riker commented.

As he turned away from the crystal, Riker slipped on some loose rock but managed to brace himself before he fell over. Some of the smaller rock shards bounced into a small crater, echoing around the cavern. From above, one of the aliens jumped down and started firing at them. Taking aim with her automag, Kargoth fired at one of the barrels close to the cavern wall. It exploded on contact with the bullet, blasting the alien into smithereens and also blowing a large hole in the wall.

"Out escape route," she commented.

Malik took the lead this time with his stronger weapon, keeping his eye out for any more lava pits through the hole in the wall. On the other side, they were met by a Brute. Malik decided to test out the Stinger, firing a successive burst of Tarydium shards at the heavily built creature. It fired back at him, but he dived to his left, leaving Riker and Kargoth to take him down with their automags. Malik got to his feet and approached one of the consoles, taking out the universal translator.

"I think I've found something," he commented.

Riker and Kargoth went over to him.

"This has something about our location," Malik continued.

"Does it say how to get off this rock?" Riker asked.

"Not quite, but at least we know who our enemy are. This log was made by somebody named Karrij, chief Skaarj of the Rrajagar mines. He says that mining has a job to take an interest in exploiting the planet Na Pali for Tarydium. He's noted at the end that he's fed up of the Nali constantly trying to revolt."

"Who do you recon all these things are then?"

"That's simple enough," Kargoth explained. "I imagine that the planet we're on is called Na Pali, the enemy creatures with the wrist blades and dreadlocks are the Skaarj and the four armed preachers are the Nali! Obvious really."

"I assume the Skaarj use to Nali as slaves or something," Malik noted.

"They'd be useful though. Imagine what you could do with four arms!"

"Four arms means four guns," Riker commented.

"I don't think the Nali seem the type for carrying guns."

"Maybe with a little preaching from out part…"

He trailed off and shrugged, leaning on a metal bar on a platform next to him. Under his weight, it was pushed to the side like a lever. Unbalancing, Riker turned round and watched as four panels on a central pillar were lowered to reveal four buttons. Along with that, they noticed two doors which were shut at opposite ends of the room.

The three of them pushed in all four of the buttons, and as expected, the two doors opened up. The right hand door revealed a Skaarj warrior, which instantly leapt into the room and opened fire on them. Malik returned fire first with his Stinger; a little annoyed at how easily the Skaarj dodging the Tarydium shards. Riker and Kargoth joined to help him, their combined efforts bringing the Skaarj down before it was able to get within swiping range with its wrist blades.

They exited through the left door, diving quickly onto the lift to avoid the four Tentacles which instantly noticed their presence. Feeling a little out of breath, they took rest on the lift as it ascended to another floor above. Nothing was there to meet them this time and they found a nice spot which contained two medical kits. All three had sustained minor injuries during their progress and they took a moment of relaxation to bandage up a few of their open wounds.

"I knew I should have packed the Germoline," Kargoth sighed.

"The security teams had cleared out the medical supplies on the Vortex Rikers from what I can remember," Malik replied.

"Fat lot of good that did them though."

With their wounds nicely bandaged up, they headed along around the edge of hole in the middle where the pillar carried on up to the ceiling. They walked down another corridor and ended up in another mine shaft. They killed the two Tentacles on the wall and carried on, pushing the explosive barrels out of their way to continue. They were attacked by another Skaarj Warrior and Malik had a sudden idea.

He backed off with Riker and Kargoth to stand behind the explosive barrels, ordering Kargoth to stand ready with her automag. Being a specialised sniper, she had a better aim than Riker. As hoped for, the Skaarj appeared round the corned, pushing its way through the barrels to get to them. Kargoth fired and destroyed the barrels, along with the Skaarj, its head flying off and landing at her feet.

"Stupid animal," she growled.

She reloaded the automag, getting to her feet.

"Nice plan Malik."

They continued on ahead and found themselves in a small control room. From above, a Brute started firing at them and they had to duck for cover behind a crate. Kargoth looked around the corner, taking aim at the Brute's eye with her automag. With one clean shot, she planted a bullet in its eye, causing it to start shooting madly. It blew a Tentacle to smithereens on the ceiling and then started taking its temper out on another Brute. From below, they watched as the two creatures killed each other.

"Do any of these creatures have brains?" Kargoth asked.

"That could work to our advantage," Malik replied.

"However, stupid things with big weapons are dangerous!" Riker cut in.

"That's probably the most sensible thing you've ever said!" Kargoth laughed.

"Well I'm glad you approve of it."

They came out from behind the crate, walked over to the console. Malik looked at the big red wheel on the wall and then behind him to a small lift that was positioned at the upper balcony. He turned the wheel around and the lift came down to ground level. He moved to stand on it, looking back to the other two.

"We'll have to take it in turns," he commented. "It's too small."

Before he had a chance to hear their replies, the lift took him up to the balcony. Kargoth turned the wheel again and brought the lift back, starting an argument with Riker about who should go on it first. Malik sighed and wondered over to some broken crates which contained more Tarydium shards. He sat down and loaded his weapon whilst he waited for Riker and Kargoth to stop arguing and join him. He shook his head and stood up, glaring slightly at the two of them before leading the way along another corridor which overlooked one of the rooms they'd been in previously.

At the end of the corridor, they jumped down into a small cavern below. Riker peered down it, seeing that it was the same one they'd been in before where the Skaarj had ambushed them. Its body parts were still scattered around with a few metal shards from the blow up barrels. They carried on until they once again heard the familiar sound of bubbling lava. They stood at the edge, looking uncertainly at the wooden bridge ahead of them which lead to the other side.

"That's the only way," Malik commented.

"Do you want to risk it?" Riker asked. "Especially after last time."

"If you want to get out of these mines, we need to get across."

"I say we jump before the wooden beams collapse," Kargoth suggested.

Holding their breaths while they did it, they ran across the wooden bridge, just about managing to make it across to the other side without falling into the lava when the beams collapsed. They turned a corner and came face to face with both a Nali and a Brute. Attempting to prevent the four armed creature from being killed, they instantly opened fire on the Brute and sent it burning to its death in the lava.

Kargoth turned to the Nali, lowering her weapon and indicating for Malik and Riker to do the same. The Nali backed off slightly, but she bent down and laid the automag at its feet, standing back up and extending her arm to it. It lowered its arms and looked at her slightly, glancing down at the weapon on the floor. It bent down and picked it up, giving it back to her and turned to face a wall. It indicated to it with all four of its arms and the door moved aside, revealing a cylindrical shaped object which was hovering on four, blue streaks of energy. The Nali then crossed its legs and bowed its head, hovering in mid air in a strange meditative state, uttering a deep chant under its breath.

Kargoth looked back to the others, who shrugged. She entered the small cave and picked up the device; it didn't look like much. With a sudden flash of inspiration, she took out her dispersion pistol and turned it over, seeing a small space which would accommodate this capsule. She slotted it into the weapon, watching as the barrel changed shape to produce a wider gap between them. She laughed and got to her feet, showing the improved dispersion pistol to the others.

"It's a power up for this!" she proclaimed.

"How did you manage to work that out?" Riker asked.

"Just a sudden flash of inspiration."

"Well it worked," Malik replied. "Now to tackle this second bridge."

The three of them jumped across the second bridge, and ran into the passageway, shooting at a tentacle at the same time. The wooden beams fell into the lava below, burning up in seconds. Even as they made their way through the passageway, they still found it difficult not to imagine themselves burning up in that lethal lava pit. They were all beginning to think they'd be happy to escape the mines forever. The sound of the bubbling lava eventually fell away as they entered another corridor which was walled with pipes and broken up with a column in the middle.

As they advanced further, a Skaarj jumped down from the ceiling and stopped in front of them, scraping its blades together. Kargoth pulled her improved dispersion pistol out on the creature, Malik backing her up with the Stinger. The Skaarj jumped left and right to evade their shots, firing bolts at them from all directions. But it was too confused by the three prisoners and was eventually cut short by a wrong angled shot taken by Riker and his automag. The Skaarj fell to its knees, blood oozing from its knee. Kargoth instantly ended its life with a powered shot aimed accurately to the chest.

"Good shot Riker," she complimented.

"Yeah sure," Riker replied. "That was a bad angle!"

"It worked though."

They continued on down another one of the corridors and into an open plan room which, thankfully, did not contain molten rock. From a platform above, a Skaarj came down on the lift to meet them, but Kargoth was already onto it. Putting away her dispersion pistol, she took aim with the automag while it was on the lift and put a bullet through its eye. It had worked perfectly once again. It fell off the lift in agony and had its head squashed as the lift settled itself at ground level.

"Yet another perfect shot," she commented.

"Now let's get out before his friends get worried!" Malik cut in.

At a run, they left the open plan room and headed into another room on a wide metal walkway above the lava. Riker spotted the door ahead, but it unfortunately was locked. He sighed and leaned back against it, turning round to face the others who walked over, glancing at the door with suspicion.

"Locked," Riker sighed.

"Now what?" Kargoth growled.

Malik looked to his left, but the only thing there was a few crates stacked on top of each other. Turning to his right, he saw a lift at the far wall with a lever to operate it on the wall next to it hidden by explosive barrels.

"Let's try that lift for starters," he explained.

He head over to it and pulled the lever, all three of them taking out their weapons and taking aim at the lift shaft. They didn't want to meet anything coming down on the lift unarmed. If they were lucky, there'd be nothing. But having spent several years aboard the Vortex Rikers, they began to realise that they had no luck in their lives.

As to be expected, a Brute was standing on the lift coming down and it instantly fired at them, destroying the barrels near to the lift control. Being a clumsy creature, it wasn't difficult to bring down and it seemed to have jammed a rocket into one of its launchers. That put it out of action and they were soon on their way up to the top of the deck above, a dead Brute beneath their feet. The lift stopped and they stepped out, seeing a control room protected by glass at the far end.

"Great!" Kargoth exclaimed. "We're out of here…"

"Wait!" Malik snapped.

He grabbed her arm to stop her running off, pulling her back. He took aim at the glass with his Stinger and fired a single shot. He noticed that it bent slightly towards the right before it shattered the glass. Malik looked over and saw that one of the fans seemed to be operating in a suction mode.

"We have a problem," he noted.

"What? Can't we just get out?" Kargoth complained.

"No. That fan is sucking in. The instant we get too close to that control room, we'll get sucked into the fan and shredded to bits! Now, unless you want to end up as a few body parts at the bottom of an air conditioning duct, than I suggest you think of some other way of pushing those three buttons."

"I could shoot them like I did before with that beam a few spaces back."

"Give it a try Kargoth."

Kneeling down, she took out her automag and raised it on level with her eye, taking a good aim at the first of the three buttons. She fired, the bullet hitting the control and knocking it in. Smiling with satisfaction that she'd successfully beaten the fan trap, she took aim at the remaining two buttons and shot them in.

"Target practice," she stated.

She got to her feet, sliding the automag back into her belt. She clapped her hands together and smirked at her two companions. Malik shook his head and recalled the lift, getting back onto it and trying their best not to step on the Brute corpse. Now he understood why Kargoth would be so desperate to get her hands on a sniper rifle. Using a mere automag sight had its limitations.

As they hoped, the door was now open and there was nothing waiting for them on the other side. They crossed the threshold of the doorway and into yet another passageway, but they felt no draft of fresh air coming from further down. It appeared that they'd be stuck in the mines a little while longer.


	4. 4 Depths of Rrajagar

**Chapter 4 – The Depths of Rrajagar**

The three prisoners continued down the corridor and came into a small under passage which was guarded by a Brute. Quickly, they brought it down, but the amount of fire it gave out from its rocket launchers, there was no chance they were now unnoticed. Shaking their heads, still with disappointment that they'd not reached the surface yet, the turned to their right and mounted a lift, travelling up to the bit above. Once again, they heard the sound of magma and Riker went over to the edge of the walkway by a crane lift and looked down over the edge. To his dismay, the bottom was steaming with lava.

"More damn lava," he groaned.

"Then we'd better exercise caution," Malik replied.

"I guess that control accesses the lift."

He pointed at a red button on the far wall. Kargoth and Malik stepped into the lift, collecting some more Stinger ammunition. Riker jogged over to the wall, pressed the button and dashed back, vaulting over the lift and landing in between Kargoth and Malik just before the lift took off. It carried them far over across the lava and passed a gap in the wall which housed a Brute. They jumped off the lift at the other side and Malik killed the Brute with continuous fire from his Stinger.

A Nali in the vicinity backed off away from them, its arms raised above its head in protest against the firing. As soon as the Brute was dead and Malik lowered his Stinger, the four armed alien quietened down and hovered into the air cross legged much like the other one had done. Riker wondered over to it, standing right it front of it, but it didn't so much as twitch a muscle.

"How the hell do they do that?" Riker asked.

"The next time we meet one, I'll ask it," Kargoth replied sarcastically.

"Hey! It's the Americans that don't understand sarcasm, Kargoth."

"Sorry mate."

She walked passed him, Malik following her and too glancing at the Nali.

"Talk about defying gravity!" he noted.

He shook his head and followed the other two down towards the far end of the walkway and passed a pile of crates. A Skaarj leapt down from the top to great them, but it miss judged its jump and tripped on the floor, falling down into the lava pit below. Kargoth laughed, having to lean back against the metal crates for support. Riker looked down to watch the Skaarj burn, but it aimed one last futile shot which went searing passed his ear, singing a few strands of his hair.

He leapt back in shock, falling into a small crate which moved slightly and deposited a strange looking item into his lap. He picked it up and examined it. It was a thin metal strip which contained a strange blue energy substance and it steamed slightly at the top. He slipped it into his pocket just in case.

"What do you recon that's for?" Malik asked.

"No idea," Riker replied. "We may find out in the future."

"A non-human made weapon eh?"

Kargoth grinned. "Something new to try!"

She indicated for Malik and Riker to step into the second lift, jogging over to the button and pushing it before jogging back into the lift alongside her comrades. First, the lift raised itself up and then carried them over to a higher location where they were met by another Brute. They opened fire and jumped out of the lift, startling the big creature and bringing it down before it could even fire back.

"I love that element of surprise," Kargoth laughed.

"Pity it doesn't work every time," Malik replied.

At a run, they made their way into a narrow mine shaft that was flooded with grey fog and they could hardly see. Kargoth had to wrestle with a Tentacle as it appeared right in front of her, trying to jab her with the sting on its tail. She fired at it heavily with her automag, bringing the strange creature down at her feet. The three of them stepped over its carcass and turned away from the main corridor into another room.

So far, so good; there was nothing there to meet them. They jogged around the corner and came face to face with a Brute. This one however was much bigger than the regular Brutes they'd encountered and much slower moving. It opened fire, the three of them having to dash out of the way before they were hit by its rockets.

"Any suggestions?" Malik suggested.

"Blast the living hell out of it," Kargoth replied, quickly.

"With what exactly? Its skin looks impenetrable!"

"I might be of more help here for once," Riker cut in. "During my days, I learned to attack with strategy with having a crap aim. I saw some of those explosive barrel things around the corner. I suggest we roll them towards that big… err… Behemoth thing out there and blow it to bits!"

"I like it!" Kargoth agreed.

"Alright then. On the count of three."

They got ready to get to their feet, crouched on the floor still out of site from the Behemoth. As soon as Mail finished his count to three, they jumped out and pushed the barrels over quickly, rolling them towards the Behemoth. It gave out a startled grunt, backing off the heavy barrels as they rolled towards it. Kargoth took aim with her automag and shot one of the barrels, all of them detonating in a chain reaction and blowing the Behemoth up with it. Riker cheered.

"I'm proud of that!" he exclaimed.

"You should be mate," Malik replied, clapping him on the shoulder.

"You see, it's not all about having a good aim."

"I have to admit, I'd never have thought of that," Kargoth replied, grinning.

"Come on; I'm sick to death of these mines!" Malik cut in.

They carried on through the door and arrived in another place, a bridge at one end and a small out cut opposite. They decided to investigate the small out cut of wall just to make sure there was nothing there waiting to lower the bridge and burn them all. There was a Skaarj standing at the control panel, fiddling with some of the controls.

"This one's mine," Kargoth mouthed, silently.

She took out her automag and took aim at the explosive barrel to its right as quietly as she could. With one shot, the barrel exploded and took the Skaarj with it, scattering its body parts around. Malik headed over to the control panel and took out his universal translator, smiling as it beeped him a message. It had been a while since he last read a message of its tiny screen.

"Anything important?" Kargoth asked as she reloaded her automag.

"Just a warning to exercise caution with the Tarydium Barrels," Malik replied.

"Well, that's too late for our friend. He should have read his screen!"

Malik came back, and he and Riker and to wait for Kargoth to finish reloading her automag before crossing the bridge to the other side. They walked down yet another windy passageway before ending up in a high roofed warehouse stacked up with crates. Riker reached up on top of one and took off another one of those strange looking metal rods of ammunition. He was becoming more curious to find out what weapon these were supplied for. He guessed that it would be a Skaarj made weapon.

They walked on through the warehouse to the far end, keeping an eye out for any unwanted visitors. They walked under a bridge and saw a door that must lead out of the mines. Riker bent down and felt a slight draft coming from below it which was cold. He stood back up again to face the others.

"That's it!" he exclaimed. "Out way out; or an air conditioning shaft."

"I'm certain that's not a shaft!" Kargoth replied with the same enthusiasm.

Malik looked up to the top of the bridge they'd just passed under, watching a Skaarj fiddling with the controls or guarding them. He took out the translator and indicated to the sign above the control point.

"Our door controls are up there," he explained.

"Who wants to ask it to open the doors for us?" Riker asked.

"I think we might need to do this Kargoth's way."

She smirked. "Thank you."

They travelled back under the bridge and up a ramp to a doorway and along another corridor. Around the corner, they came across another room which contained two large pumps down a staircase. Malik stepped forward with his universal translator and indicated it towards the notice on the wall.

"Power override point," he commented. "This should turn off the security lock out and allow us to open that door."

Riker went down the stairs, going round to the back of the two pumps and collecting some more Stinger ammunition he'd spotted. He threw them up to Malik who refilled his belt whilst watching his comrade turn the wheels around on the pumps. Once the second one was released, steam began venting from the backs of them and sank to the floor, obscuring Riker's view of his feet.

"You get that Skaarj, I'll go and meet you at the door," he noted.

Malik nodded and he and Kargoth left Riker alone to climb the stairs and make his way to the door. Kargoth took out her dispersion pistol and readied it for fire as soon as they turned the corner. The Skaarj spun round to face them, lunging at them with its blades pointing forwards. Riker watched from below as Kargoth killed it with one powered blast from her dispersion pistol, its head flying off and almost hitting him. He jumped out of its way and made his way over to the door.

Kargoth activated the door controls, hearing the scraping sound of metal on metal as the door opened. Malik jumped down from the bridge and landed hard on the ground, rolling over and lying on his back, trying to refocus his gaze on the ceiling. Smirking, Kargoth lowered herself down from the walkway and landed safely on the ground, moving over to help Malik to his feet.

"You'll never get that right," she laughed.

"How long are you going to remind of that?" Malik asked.

She shrugged. "Until you get it right."

"If you get it right," Riker cut in from by the door.

"You're no better!"

Kargoth lowered her hand to Malik, which he took and allowed her to pull him back up to his feet, perhaps a little harsher than necessary. They headed over to the open doorway and exited the warehouse into another corridor which had a few crates scattered at one end. They walked around the far corner and were faced with a door, a distinct cold breeze coming from it. Kargoth smiled.

"Fresh air!" she proclaimed.

"I'm not sorry to leave Rrajagar behind," Malik stated.

"I think even Ash would have agreed with that one!"

"Ah Ash," Riker added. "I'll never have to put up with him again!"

"And I'll have to agree with that one!"

Laughing contentedly among themselves at the thought of never seeing Ash again, or the Vortex Rikers, they made their way towards the door and pushed it open, leaving Rrajagar behind them forever.


	5. 5 Sacred Passage

**Chapter 5 – The Sacred Passage**

The doors shut behind them and they looked up ahead of them, seeing a path which inclined up in a narrow gorge. They followed it towards the top and into an enclosure which was littered with trees and large rock formations. In the centre of it all was a stone wall which looked as though it concealed some sort of temple. From something he'd read in the Universal Translator, Riker recalled something being mentioned about the Temple of Chizra. Perhaps this was it.

"What do you suppose that it?" Kargoth asked.

"Looks like an ancient monument or something," Malik replied.

"Does the translator say anything?"

"I think this might be the Temple of Chizra," Riker cut in.

"The Temple of whom?"

"Chizra. When I took Malik's translator into that little cave in the mines I found a dead Nali with a book alongside it. It said something in there about trying to reach the Temple of Chizra to pray for our safety."

"So you did! I'd forgotten about that."

"I think we should carry onto this temple."

"I never took much to religion," Malik cut in. "Especially not alien ones!"

"Listen, if you think these Nali things can help us, then it might be wise not to insult their religion! Perhaps we should be cautious in our approach to this and try and prove we're good guys by not defiling their gods."

"Didn't they think we were sent by their gods to punish them?"

"No, that's the Skaarj. We're supposed to be their saviours I think!"

Kargoth laughed. "I never though I'd here the day when murderers would be saving people's lives! Why not start now to prove all those bastards who locked us up wrong. I'd love to see what Ash would write in his log book now; the subject seems to be improving!"

The three of them carried along up towards the walls to what looked like a door, but it didn't want to move.

"Is everything locked in this place?" Riker asked.

"Looks like we'll have to find another way in," Malik replied.

"Hey, look at that!"

Riker pointed up at the sky as a strange looking creature began circling down towards them. It looked similar to a flying stingray with leathery looking wings and a long, spiny tail. Kargoth moved away from the door into its line of sight, watching it carefully. It didn't appear to look friendly.

"It's not one of those bird things," she commented.

"Looks like a flying manta ray or something," Malik replied.

"What ever it is, it doesn't look friendly."

It dived down at them, swooping in low for attack and issuing a high pitched screeching sound. Kargoth dived away from it and took out her automag, shooting it down from the sky in two shots. It fell to the ground, the three of them crowding around it to inspect it.

"Strange looking thing," Riker stated.

"Hmm, I wonder what that tail's for," Kargoth thought.

"Nothing good I imagine."

"Anyway, the Manta's dead now," Malik cut in. "I suggest we head on towards this Chizra Temple place and hope that our Nali friends don't think we're bad by entering their sacred grounds with weapons! I know a bit about religious fanatics from my days as an anti-religious activist before the Vortex Rikers came into my life. Hopefully, if they're anything like Buddhists, they'll leave us alone and take to us peacefully."

"They seemed like a peacefully race to me."

"We'll soon put that to the test."

"We'd better not kill any of them accidentally then," Kargoth noted.

"That would set us off on the wrong foot."

The three of them started off again and moved around the side of the walls to another open space behind a large rock formation. Behind this was a large pool of water which looked clear and fresh. Besides it were some of those strange, orange fruit plants which seemed to have healing properties. Smiling, Kargoth ran over to where they were growing, sat down and started picking some of them off.

"Who's hungry?" she queried.

"For once, I'd say yes!" Malik replied.

They went to join her sitting down to eat besides the large pool. Malik looked back towards the walls, but couldn't see anything that looked like a way in. He sighed and leaned back, taking in the pleasant feeling of the cold breeze on his forehead. They'd all got a little hot and sweaty traipsing through the Rrajagar Mines and they now had time for a well deserved rest. Anyway, they needed to find another way into the ruin and doing so with an empty stomach wasn't the best way.

"I wonder if that water's drinkable," Kargoth suggested.

"I hope so!" Riker exclaimed. "It was a little hot in those mines."

"I guess I'll have to try it again."

"It must be clean," Malik noted. "There's fish in that water."

Kargoth watched as a small school of fish darted passed, heading for the cover of the long tall seaweed below. She inched forward towards the pool and lifted up some water in her hands. It was cool and fresh, much like the water that was present in most natural springs on Earth. She drank some of it, not noticing any difference between it and ordinary water. Seeing as the atmosphere of Na Pali was similar to that of Earth anyway, it would be surprising if the water was toxic.

"Fresh," she commented, simply.

"Then I suggest we freshen up," Malik replied.

They took a few moments to drink the water until Kargoth spotted something in the water that looked like a way into the walls. There was a cave that was guarded by a large fish which had very uninviting looking teeth lining its jaw.

"We could try that," she pointed to it.

The other two looked at it.

"Looks like it goes under the ruin," she explained.

"What do you make of that little shark though!" Riker laughed.

"That's easily dispensed with," Malik replied.

He took out his Stinger and took aim at the small shark, firing a burst of Tarydium shards at it. Before long, it's lengthy body was floating on the surface of the water and the other smaller fish had hidden well behind the seaweed. Malik put it away into his belt and lowered himself into the water, pushing off from the side and swimming away from Riker and Kargoth.

"We'll be cold on the other side!" he noted.

"Who cares!" Kargoth called back. "I want to get home!"

Both she and Riker jumped into the water and joined Malik at the other side.

"I wonder how far it goes on for," Kargoth thought.

"Not very far I hope," Malik replied. "I can't hold my breath that well."

"At least we can all swim," Riker added.

"Yes, that would indeed by an issue!"

They dived down below into the depths of the water and swam down towards the cave in the rock face. They swam in single file, closely following Malik as he lead the way. It didn't take long before they'd reached another cave and were following up towards the surface. They rose quickly, taking in the fresh air quickly after that length of time under water. Unfortunately, something told them that they'd have to get used to it.

They levered themselves up out of the water and left the small enclosure, coming out onto what looked like the other side of the walls. Dripping wet, the three of them came out into the sunlight and the cold breeze again, faced with another wall. There was something here that looked like a small side entrance. After that trek underwater, they hoped they could get in there. Riker went over to it, looking down at his feet and noticing a small block of stone which was standing out. With a flash of inspiration, he stepped on it and pushed it into the ground, the door in the wall sliding down and revealing the space beyond.

"Nice job Riker," Malik clapped him on the back.

They entered the walled ruin and looked around, seeing a closed door at one end and a small pool drained of water in the centre. Opposite the door there looked like some kind of mechanism which might pump water into the pool or open the door. Malik approached the closed door with his translator and checked for a message.

"Here we go," he noted.

"What do we have to do?" Kargoth asked.

"It says to enter the Temple of Chizra, one must fill the sacred pool with water and be cleansed of all impurities."

"I think we'll need to bathe Kargoth in acid to do that!" Riker laughed.

She punched him on the arm, feeling rather indifferent about it as she approached the mechanism. Riker rubbed the sore spot on his arm from where Kargoth had punched him, watched as she pulled the lever down. As hoped, water flooded from the mouth of the painted stone gargoyle and filled the pool slowly. However, before anyone even stepped into it, the doors to the Chizra Temple opened.

"So much for cleansing of impurities," Kargoth commented.

"I always knew it," Malik growled. "All religious stuff is a load of bollocks!"

"Most of its myth, but don't tell that to the Nali!"

"They can't speak English anyway."

Malik waited for Riker and Kargoth to join him before they went inside the doors of the Chizra Temple. Before they went much further, Malik almost tripped over the dead body of a Skaarj. However, this one looked slightly different to some of the other Skaarj they had seen around. Instead of the dreadlocks at the back of its head, it seemed have a spiked end skull and it didn't seem so well built and muscular as the rest. Malik also noticed that it had a dispersion pistol lying next to its hand. The other Skaarj had not carried weapons, only those blades which projected balls of light.

"Skaarj with weapons eh," Riker observed.

"It's not like the other ones," Kargoth noted.

"Different military rank, maybe?"

"I'm not sure how their society works."

Malik knelt down besides the Skaarj body and took out the universal translator, holding it over the body to see if it had left a message. Fortunately it had and Malik persisted to read it.

"Doesn't say much," he noted. "All it says is; a message to other warriors; we've put the Sliths into position to watch for any humans who attempt to seek refuge in the Temple. I'm sure they and any other warriors in the area will deal with them sufficiently. Back up is not required."

"That's a nice start," Riker replied. "If we kill what ever is in there, we'll have an easy passage out again!"

"That's what I was thinking," Kargoth replied.

"Something tells me not to rely on that too much," Malik added.

He put the translator away and got to his feet, following Riker and Kargoth inside the Temple, the doors closing behind them. They came face to face with another wooded door which opened to permit them. They glanced amongst each other and slowly made their way inside, the doors shutting behind them.


	6. 6 Chizra Temple

**Chapter 6 – The Temple of Chizra**

The first room they came into was square and supported with wooden pillars with some kind of strange mechanism above them in the rafters. Malik spotted a dead corpse lying besides one of the pillars. He walked over to it and observed it critically. It was large, dark green and scaly with sharp teeth, Skaarj-like tusks and webbed hands. From its make up, it was clearly aquatic.

"Could these be one of the Sliths that Skaarj mentioned?" Malik asked.

"I'm willing to bet it is," Kargoth replied. "Though it looks like a giant snake or something, it's got the tusks of those Skaarj warriors. I'm almost inclined to say that it would be a cut off of the same species."

"Well, it happens on Earth so why not here."

Meanwhile, Riker had wandered around the room a bit trying to look for a way out. The only way he could find was a wooden panel at the opposite end showing a room beneath his feet. But it didn't want to move. He walked back into the main room, seeing a wooden platform under the water which was attached to small struts by chains. Looking above the platform, he saw a metal bar with a lever on it that seemed to link up with the chain mechanism.

"While you two were discussing genetics," he cut in. "I've found our way out."

Taking out his automag, he shot at the four chains connecting the wooden platform to the struts. It floated to the top of the water and Riker stepped on to it, reaching up and pulling the lever above. The chain creaked as it moved and they all heard the sound of a wooden door opening. Smirking to himself, Riker stepped off the platform and walked over to the place where the wooden panel was, happy that it had moved aside to allow them access to the room below.

He lowered himself down and let go, standing aside for the other two to follow him down. The next room was a tall one, the bottom filled with water and several small fish darting around in it. Two stone beams had fallen down from above and, if their footing was well coordinated, they'd be able to reach the opening at the top. Malik and Kargoth soon joined him.

"Up those beams do you suppose?" Malik queried.

"That's what I'm guessing," Malik replied.

"I hope so," Kargoth added. "I hate swimming."

They still hadn't completely dried off from their dive previously to get this far, and she didn't particularly fancy getting wet again. Careful so as not to slip down, the three of them stepped gingerly onto the stone beam and began the accent up to the opening above. A Nali peered out at them, watching as they climbed there way up carefully and eventually reached where it was standing. It indicated with one of its arms to them and jogged off along the stone walled corridor.

Intrigued with what it wanted, Malik lead the way in following the Nali around the other fallen stone blocks to the end of the corridor. The Nali indicated with its four arms to the wall and a hidden compartment was revealed containing several flairs and some ammunition for the Stinger. Immediately, Malik went to collect the ammunition and Kargoth to cram more flares into her pocket.

"Hand little buggers these," Riker indicated to the Nali.

By now, it had floated up into its meditative position. He shook his head and turned to face a gap in the wall with a wooden pole occupying the space. Looking up, he realised that it must have been part of a lift mechanism. He pushed in a stone button on the wall, watching as the octagonal shaped lift spiralled its way down to their level. He stepped on it, indicating for Malik and Riker to follow him.

"You've been spotting a lot of things recently," Malik complimented.

"I've always had a keen eye for things like that," Riker replied.

"Good at word searches were we?" Kargoth asked.

"And those magic eye puzzles. I'd possibly be good at those anagram things as well if my English was good. But I've never taken much to walking dictionaries, so I'd only be a hypocrite if I was good at them."

The lift spiralled back up to where it came from and they found themselves in another room which seemed completely closed off. They stepped off the lift and walked around, unable to find an exit, but Riker's attention had been drawn to an object sitting on a pedestal in the centre of the room.

"Get a load of that beauty!" he proclaimed.

He sat on the edge of the platform, reached out and took the strange looking weapon from the platform. It was flat and dark in colour with strange blue markings on it. It steamed slightly from certain areas two and Riker recognised what was sitting in its ammunition chamber. It was those strange, black cartridges containing the blue energy he'd seen in the Rrajagar mines.

"Nice looking gun," Kargoth commented.

"Hand over your translator Malik," Riker noted.

Malik didn't give Riker the device, but merely stood by him and indicated at the weapon with it. He was reluctant to give the translator to someone else because he was proud to have found it, and he avoided giving it away where possible.

"It's an ASMD Shock Rifle," he explained.

"I'd love to see this thing in action!" Riker laughed.

"No doubt you will."

Malik pocketed the translator and helped Riker to his feet.

"For now, I need you to help get us out of this room," he continued.

"Well, seeing as I got you in here!" Riker replied.

He wondered around the wall edges until he came across a stone flooring which looked as though it maybe some kind of door. He looked closely at the wall and eventually found a stone button, similar to the one that operated the wooden lift, sticking out of the wall. He pushed it and the floor beneath his feet opened up to reveal yet another small room below.

He fell down and hit the ground hard, rolling over onto his back to avoid being kicking by Kargoth as she lowered herself down. Malik soon joined them, the doors above closing them in. He helped Riker to his feet whilst Kargoth testing all of the small stone decorations in the wall for buttons. She eventually hit the right one and the decorated door ahead of them slid open. The three of them exited, looking around this next room which seemed to make a change from the boxy-ness of the others. Either way, it seemed like a more inviting place than the Rrajagar Mines had been.

"I guess we're not going down there," Kargoth noted.

She pointed down the stairs ahead of them to where there was a doorway that was barricaded with stone barriers. Looking around, they eventually spotted a smaller corridor in the wall away from their location. They walked through the corridor, at one point having to push some small stone blocks out of their way to progress. Ahead of them outside of the corridor was a wooden bridge stretching across to the far wall, a Nali standing on it to greet them.

The Nali indicated for them to follow it and it ran off down the wooden bridge. Taking out their weapons just in case, they followed it to the end where one of the Sliths stood, but this one was unfortunately alive. It attacked the Nali, spitting a strange green slime at it which burned the poor creature to death.

"Shit!" Riker exclaimed.

They attacked the Slith quickly, catching it by surprise before it tried to spit its acid attack at them. Eventually, it died and collapsed over the edge of the wooden bridge, landing into the water below. Malik slid the Stinger back into his belt and approached the stone slab at the far end, indicating the translator to the inscription on the wall.

"Past this slab lie the sacred ceremonial chambers of Chizra," he read aloud. "Now this sounds weird…"

"What?" Kargoth asked him.

"Only the warrior who wields the Stick of 6 Fires may progress beyond into the ceremonial chambers. Once the Stick of 6 Fires is in your grasp, this stone slab will be raised to permit thee."

"You're right, that is weird!"

"Any guesses in what the Stick of 6 Fires is?"

"I'd gather a weapon with that warrior business," Riker shrugged.

"Then I say we find it and progress to these chambers."

Kargoth looked over the edge of the wooden bridge, seeing a blocked entrance and a pedestal that had a button on it. She lowered herself down below into the water, the others following her. Malik climbed out first, holding his translator to another inscription on the wall.

"Now this is even stranger!" he laughed.

"Everything's strange to you," Kargoth commented.

"No, listen to this! The Temple of Chizra the Nali Water God has been defiled by the water demons and those who came from the stars. Only the messiah can purify the temple once again."

"I guess that's us."

"I'm no body's 'messiah'!"

"Perhaps you need to put your old ways behind you for the time being."

Malik sighed. "You're right."

"Water demon!" Riker shouted.

Kargoth and Malik turned away from the inscription on the wall and were faced by a Slith rising out of the water to greet them. It flailed its arms about before reaching out to grab hold of Riker. He lashed out at it, pinning it to the ground and turning his ASMD on it. He shot it twice in the head, the shock from the beam enough to shatter its head into small, meaty chunks.

Once the creature was dead, a wooden beam extended out the small pedestal in the centre of the water. Malik reached out and touched the stone slab, watching as it disappeared into the ground beneath his feet. The barricade at the doorway opposite slid away, allowing them to go further. The three of them went through the corridor and found themselves back into the room where Riker found the Shock Rifle.

"Alright, let's go and purify the temple," said Malik.

He reloaded the Stinger and opened the doors in the floor again, Riker and Kargoth following behind him and ending up in the small room again. They exited through the door and were immediately greeted by a Skaarj warrior. This must have been one of the back up warriors the other Skaarj had explained about in his message. They brought him down quickly, walking down the stairs and jumping across a gap in the floor to the other side where a Nali was hovering around in meditation.

They crossed one of the wooden bridges and went through another room; crouching low over a wooden beam to be sure it didn't suddenly swing back and take one of their heads off. They passed through it safely and crossed another wooden bridge to a platform. They opened the door ahead of them and were faced with a small pedestal with two fountains flowing out either side of it. So far, this place looked rather pretty.

Looking around them, they saw that one of the doorways was barred with more of the stone beams. They moved over to one of the corridors, shooting down the Tentacle which was on the roof of the corridor above them. They pursued further into the next room which was full of wooden walkways above some more water. However, the fact there was a lot of water in this place was fitting seeing as it was the temple of the Nali Water God.

One of the Nali in the room backed away from them as they entered, running along up one of the walkways and cowering in the corner. The three prisoners ignored it and carried on further, Malik walking up to another inscription on the wall. He read it off his translator.

"Two progress to the alter of the Stick of 6 Fires one must first touch the stones of the Flame of Thunder," he explained.

"Talk about dramatic!" Kargoth laughed.

"Hmm, I was beginning to think the same thing."

"Stick of 6 Fires, Flame of Thunder! What'll it be next? Room of Fire?"

"I hope not, the lava in those mines was bad enough," Riker cut in, darkly.

They split up to go and touch the two pillars which had a blue flame wavering above each, constantly being watched by the Nali. It seemed to have become accustomed to their presence by now and had resumed a meditative stance above the ground. Once each of the pillars had been touched, the golden door opened and they left that room behind and into the next one.

They killed the two Sliths easily as they came up towards them, spitting their green slime at them. They walked around the corner and into the room, ignoring the single golden door for now. To their amazement, they saw the platform in the centre which contained the Stick of 6 Fires. It was none other than a six barrelled rocked launcher, known more commonly as an 8-ball gun.

"It's an 8-ball!" Riker laughed.

"Some religion having an alter for a rocket launcher!" Malik laughed.

"What does that inscription say over there?"

He pointed to one of the wall which was parallel with the alter. Being careful not to fall into the water below, Malik made his way around and took out his translator, reading off the message on the little screen.

"To claim the Stick of 6 Fires, one must purify themselves in the Pool of Thunder," he read. "Not quite Room of Fire, Kargoth. I'm sorry."

"Let's find this pool!" Kargoth put her hands together. "I want that 8-ball!"

Malik put away his translator, climbing back up to join Riker and Kargoth as they headed back to where the dead Slith bodies were and the second golden door. They entered, seeing two Sliths attacking three Nali Priests who were praying besides a pillar. Malik instantly brought his weapon to bear, shooting down one of the Sliths while Riker brought the second one down with his ASMD.

The Nali turned to look at them but Kargoth came forth and put her dispersion pistol away, bowing her head to one of them. One of the Nali returned the gesture and they all went back to what they were doing. Malik then came towards the pillar to read the inscriptions whilst Riker fought off a third Slith that appeared down a passageway.

"More inscriptions," Malik grumbled.

"You like using that translator," Kargoth reminded him.

"Yeah, fortunately for these darn walls!"

"What does it say about this Thunder Pool thing?"

"Beyond this pillar lies the Pool of Thunder. One who bathes in the Pool of Thunder will gain great strength. I bet that's something to do with the 8-ball. Those with impure motives take great care in the Pool of Thunder; they will have to face the Demon from the stars. Simple, that'll be a Skaarj. And finally, the reach the Pool of Thunder, one must climb the uneven rocks."

"The Uneven Rocks! Couldn't they just say broken staircase or something?"

"Obviously not."

They turned back and watched Riker get fed up and crack the but of his Shock Rifle into the Slith's head, killing it with one hard blow. Malik and Kargoth joined him at the corridor and came to a small pile of stone bricks that lead up to an opened above which must be the Pool of Thunder.

"Oh look," Kargoth pointed out. "The uneven rocks!"

"Not just a broken staircase then," Malik observed.

They climbed up them to the top, taking care with it because they were slippy from the green algae that were growing on them. They eventually emerged into what must be the Pool of Thunder. It was simply a high walled room with a nice skylight above and several pillars supporting the heavy stone roof. At the bottom of the water was a strange sort of device that looked like an aqualung.

"Who wants to try it out then?" Kargoth asked.

"The pillar said something about those of impure motive must be cautious or they'd face those Skaarj Warriors," Malik explained. "I'm not sure whether the worst offender should go in."

"And face another Skaarj?"

"Yes, but killing these purifies the temple, right?"

"So more likely to grab that rocket launcher?"

"Precisely!"

"Then the most aggressive offender of all of us should go in."

"Well, that's you Kargoth!" Riker laughed.

"Why don't you go in? Arson's just as bad as murder!"

"Not really considering the manner in which you committed those murders."

"And blowing people up while they sleep is not so bad as shooting them?"

"You stabbed several to death too, you know."

Malik shook his head and rolled his eyes skyward, sighing as they began arguing yet again. This was the first time they'd really started bickering against since the disagreements back aboard the Vortex Rikers. Ah, the V. Rikers. That seemed so long ago now they were free. Not wanting to hang around anymore, Malik pushed Kargoth into the water, smirking at her cry of shock.

As she became submerged, a crack of thunder echoed up ahead and the two Nali present in the room suddenly became aware of them. They started pointing towards the doorway they'd come in though, backing off in their usual fashion. Whilst Kargoth strapped the aqualung onto her back, Riker and Malik killed the Skaarj which was terrifying the Nali. Once the alien dropped down dead, there was a second crack of thunder and the Nali returned to their preying. Kargoth climbed out of the water, not really impressed at having to get wet all over again.

"I hope this was worth it," she snarled.

"Don't worry; you'll get your rocket launcher!" Riker laughed.

He clapped her on the back and they left the Pool of Thunder behind, returning the way they came down the uneven rocks to the alter of the Stick of 6 Fires. As they entered, a lever for a doorway had been revealed opposite the alter and a narrow wooden platform was slowly raised to allow access to the Stick of 6 Fires. Smiling happily, Kargoth carefully walked up the platform and took the rocket launcher, backing off down it and joining Malik and Riker opposite.

"I am the Warrior who holds the Stick of 6 Fires!" she proclaimed.

"No, you're a murderer with a rocket launcher," Riker replied.

She shrugged. "No difference really."

Malik pulled the lever and opened the door, revealing another wooden walkway suspended above a pool of water. They walked around it and came to a portal. The Nali in front of them raised its four arms above its head and backed off, disappearing through the portal.

"Wicked!" Kargoth grinned.

"Where do you suppose that goes?" Malik asked.

"I'm guessing back to the entrance to the ceremonial chambers."

"Well, only one way to find out."

Counting to three and closing their eyes in case anything strange happened, the three of them walked through the portal and ended up exactly where Kargoth had guessed; the entrance to the ceremonial chambers. Taking her moment of glory with her big weapon, Kargoth killed the Skaarj warrior blocking their path with two shots from the rocket launcher, watching as its body parts bounced off the floor and the walls.

"I like it!" she smiled.

They turned round to face the entrance where the stone block used to be and headed into the rooms beyond, now feeling confident with what ever they faced now they had with them a high powered 8-ball launcher.


	7. 7 Ceremonial Chambers

**Chapter 7 – The Ceremonial Chambers**

Malik walked over to the stone pillar ahead of them which bore yet another inscription upon it. Riker and Kargoth came up behind him, reading what the translator said over his shoulder. It read 'The inner ceremonial chambers where the serpents of the Water God reside to eat the flesh of the weak. Only the one who can swim like the serpent can escape this place'. It was plane enough.

"No one's eating my flesh," Kargoth snarled.

"Are you suggesting your weak then?" Riker queried.

"Shut up Riker."

"It sounds like we'll need to go swimming again," Malik noted.

"I take it that's what this scuba gear's for."

Kargoth indicated to the heavy oxygen tank and aqualung on her back. They nodded and crossed over to the doors opposite into the next chamber and through the door. They went into yet another gold door and down a wooden ramp to the next level. Malik found a dead body with another set of scuba gear next to it. Instantly, he put it onto his back.

"We'd better find out how to get out before we search down there," Malik explained. "Especially when only two of us have breathing apparatus. I only hope we come across some more for Riker soon."

"I'm fine for now," Riker assured them.

"You wont be saying that if the way out is under water!"

"There's a lever down there," Kargoth spotted.

"You go down and check that out. Me and Riker will go on further and meet you. I bet this watery bit comes up sooner or later."

Kargoth dived into the water and swam down towards the lever, pulling it back. Further down the tunnel, she watched some iron bars move across and reveal another lever at the far end. She swam towards it but was cut off by three Sliths coming towards her rapidly. She turned the 8-ball launcher on them, locking them on target and firing several missiles at them all.

Above, Riker and Malik heard the rocket fire and the screeching sound of the Sliths being hit. They ran over to investigate, looking down into one of the pools of water and spying Kargoth wrestling with the three Sliths. They shot at them from above, taking the stronger one out and leaving Kargoth with the two weaker ones. Once the bodies had sunk to the bottom, she surfaced and held onto the ledge for support, taking the aqualung out of her mouth.

"There's another lever down at the far end," she noted.

"There are two passageways up here," Malik explained. "They're barred off at the moment, so I hope that lever of yours opens them for us. I take it this is what that little message up there meant."

"The Nali are beginning to make sense now!"

Kargoth replaced her aqualung and dived back down into the water, swimming to the bottom and heading off after the lever. She pulled it and heard the distance sound of some doors being opened. She returned to where Riker and Malik were waiting, removing the aqualung again and pulling herself up. She was now beginning to get used to being wet all the time and was starting to enjoy swimming. Neither were things she had previously been fond of.

The three prisoners left the pool behind and came to one of the previously locked openings, happy to find it was now open for them. A Nali was waiting for them on the other side and began indicating for them to come closer. They obeyed and followed it as it ran to yet another gold door. It indicated to the Slith standing guard and then backed off, allowing them a clear shot.

Riker aimed his ASMD at it and fired a large, circular disk of blue energy at the Slith and then destroyed the disk with the regular shock beam. The two bolts of energy exploded on contact with each other and destroyed the Slith, scattering its limbs every where and into the water. Riker laughed and slung the rifle back over his shoulder, stroking its muzzle affectionately.

"Thought I'd try a shock combo out," he shrugged.

"Next time we meet a Skaarj, do that again!" Kargoth laughed.

"I'm sure I wouldn't mind."

They looked back at the Nali, which wondered aimlessly back into the inner ceremonial chambers, no doubt enjoying the nice Slith free environment beyond. The three prisoners carried on up the staircase and open the gold door ahead of them, walked into the next room and letting the door slide shut behind them. This room was rather dark and they could hear the steady drip of water. They walked further in and behind a pillar to what had caught their eyes.

"Christ," Kargoth muttered. "That's a little sick."

"Did the Skaarj do this?" Riker asked.

"Possibly," Malik replied. "They did use them as slaves in the mines."

What they saw was three Nali hung up by four of their arms on wooden poles hammered into the floor; crucified. The Skaarj clearly thought them as a far inferior race compared to themselves.

"Let's get out of here before we join them," Malik noted.

They turned round, but three Skaarj Warriors jumped down from skylights above, scraping their blades together ready for combat. They lunged straight into the attack, Kargoth starting on the closest to her with the rocket launcher. Malik took one on himself with the Stinger and Riker took on the remainder with the ASMD. It was a lengthy fire fight and they eventually got passed the four guards, looking back to the three crucified Nali.

"Can we help them?" Kargoth asked.

"Best not to," Malik replied. "The Skaarj may take it personal."

"But the Nali have helped us get this far, Malik."

"Do you really think there's anything we can do for them?"

Kargoth looked at them hanging there, writhing in agony. She sighed.

"I guess not," she noted.

"They're dying Kargoth and we cannot stop that," Malik stated. "You know that."

"I'm really starting to feel a change in myself."

"I think we can all agree on that one, Kargoth."

Riker walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I guess you could always give them a quick death," he suggested. "Put an end to their pain and suffering. It seems cruel to leave an animal suffering with something that cannot be cured; the same could be said for these aliens."

Kargoth nodded and waved off Riker's hand, taking out her automag. In turn, she went up to each of the crucified Nali and put a bullet in their heads, watching as they stopped writhing and just hung their, limply. She sighed and turned away, walking back into the main room. A Nali walked down from the ramp ahead of them and stood in front of her, looking back to his dead comrades.

"I don't know if you can understand," she told it. "But they're better off dead."

Even if it was merely her tone of voice or facial expression, the Nali almost seemed to understand what she meant. It bowed its head, offering prayers for her and then standing back up again. Kargoth reached out and clapped it on the shoulder, leaving it to grieve for its dead alone, Riker and Malik joining her.

They walked up the wooden ramp and down a windy corridor and into another room which contained a single pillar and a lever. A Skaarj pushed a Nali out of the window and then turned to face them. Curling her lip into a vicious snarl, she fired a single rocket at the Skaarj and knocked it flying out of the window. She went up to its edge and watched as it landed on a rock, the crack of its back braking wringing out across the canyon below.

"A fitting end," she snarled. "Even if they do look cute."

"You have strange tastes Kargoth," Riker shook his head.

Malik crossed the room and pulled on the lever, hearing the sound of a lift mechanism drawing closer. The wooden lift arrived on the metal beam overhead and drew to a halt by the window. The three of them stepped onto it and it took them down into the chasm below passed the rock where the Skaarj had fallen to its doom. They stepped off at the bottom, looking around for where to go next. They saw a wooden platform away from them and they jumped into the water, swimming over to it and being swarmed upon by a pair of Sliths.

Now that Kargoth had the rocket launcher, the creatures they killed didn't last as long as they used to. However, if it was their imagination, they appeared to be getting stronger. They destroyed the pair of Sliths and climbed up onto the wooden platform out of the water, eyeing up the grapple gun. Using her good sense of vision, Kargoth squinted along the grapple gun's line of sight and saw that there was a rock just along it with a wooden beam leading to a platform further up.

"I'll do this," she said.

She took aim with the grapple gun and fired it at the rock face, steam jetting out from where the arrow was fired. It stuck into the rock face and the three of them carefully mounted the wire and slowly climbed to the top. Each of them were cautious not to look down, especially Malik who was not overly fond of heights.

It took them a while, but they eventually landed on the tall rock and walked along the wooden beam to the platform. They had to cross another beam to get to the corridor on the other side of the wall which appeared to be a way out leaving the ceremonial chambers and the Chizra Temple behind. Perhaps once they got out of here, they'd find more information on the whereabouts of ISV-Kran, the crashed Russian ship.

Down the corridor, there was a small little wooden harbour with a wooden platform attacked at a post. They stepped onto it, Kargoth untying it and letting it flow loose down the small stream in the cave. It was slightly misty down here and very cool, if not slightly humid, but not enough to make them sweat. On the ceiling above them they saw a large vein of the sparkling blue Tarydium crystals which were being mined at Rrajagar and used in Malik's Stinger.

"You'd never see anything like this on Earth," Malik observed.

"Na Pali is a beautiful planet," Kargoth admitted. "I'll miss it."

"If we can get off it! We don't know yet, do we."

"Hopefully we'll find some answers we need at ISV-Kran."

"That could be miles away from here!"

"Then we have to carry on. I'm not giving up yet, not after traipsing through those horrible dark mines and that confusing temple. I want to find that Russian ship and get to safety as soon as possible, no matter how pretty this planet is!"

"I'll drink to that!" Riker added.

The wooden platform eventually came to a halt at the harbour at the other end of the cavern. They stepped off it and open the doors ahead of them, walked into a blank, white stone wall. Looking down, they saw a pool of water below them, realising that now was the time to get wet once again.

"Down we go again," Kargoth sighed.

"Ladies first," Riker indicated to the hole.

She glared at him slightly before lowering herself down and splashing into the water below, her two companions joining her shortly afterwards.


	8. 8 Dark Arena

**Chapter 8 – Dark Arena**

The three of them swam over to edge and climbed up, splashing the stone flooring with water. They turned the corner into rooms beyond, climbing down a wooden staircase and into a room lit with flaming torches. It was deathly quiet besides the crackling of the fire which lit the dark room. Ahead of them was a large pair of doors that towered to the ceiling and was flanked by a pair of large monk statues.

"I don't like this place," Kargoth shuddered.

"Hmm, I was beginning to think that myself," Malik replied.

"Looks like we'll need your eyes again Riker."

The two of them looked at Riker who searched through the first room, checking the small extruding panels on the walls. Eventually, he pushed one of them in and it opened the large doors ahead of them, slowly. Malik clapped Riker on the back and they left the large hall at a jog, heading passed the pillar in the centre of the dark room and through another corridor. At the end was the familiar cool breeze and they soon emerged into the open space of another clearing.

Ahead of them was a large, cylindrical shaped building with large supports either side of it that towered to the sky. They approached the front of the huge structure from the side until they reached a wide staircase leading up to the main doors. The three prisoners were spellbound by the sight of this magnificent structure; the only thing they'd ever seen like it on Earth was the Coliseum in Rome. Above the entrance was a Nali hanging crucified from a wooden support which was a central wooden beam with four cross bars for each of its arms.

"That's becoming a familiar sight," Kargoth grimaced.

"Clearly that's how the Skaarj deal with their enemies," Malik replied.

"I hope they don't decide we'd make a good wall decoration."

With caution, they climbed up the stairs to main doors of the Coliseum, the huge, heavy walls overshadowing them and blocking out the hazy sunlight. They pushed the doors open with a creaking sound, disturbing some of the dust which was settled on the floor. Riker held it open from Malik and Kargoth, shutting it behind him with a loud bang that echoed around the main hall.

Ahead of them was a large stone staircase that climbed up to the main rooms above and all seemed quiet for now. There was a lift between the two doors opposite the stairs, but that was all that occupied this hallway apart from the stone slab by the stairs and windows above. Malik went over to the stone slab and held the translator up to the inscription to read it.

"The weak will be struck down in the Dark Arena by the beast," he read.

"They like their weak, don't they," Kargoth shook her head.

"What's this beast. A giant Skaarj or something?"

"Or one of those Behemoth things," Riker added. "Only bigger."

"Or maybe it's something we've not yet encountered," Kargoth thought.

"Well, let's go up these stairs and find out."

Cautiously, now with their weapons to ready in case of an assault by the Skaarj or this beast, they continued on up the stairs to a platform. Either side of them were two doors ways, one of which seemed to be locked. The other one opened and a Skaarj warrior ran out, scraping its blades together and urging them to attack back. Kargoth took aim with her rocket launcher, but it ran way down the corridor.

"Maybe we shouldn't follow it," Riker suggested.

"We need to keep moving," Kargoth cut in.

"If we want to leave, that is true," Malik agreed.

He took out his Stinger and followed Kargoth after the Skaarj. Riker sighed and readied his ASMD, following them down into the stone walled corridor where the alien had retreated. When they found it however, it was no longer alone, but had another Warrior with it, no doubt as back up.

Kargoth charged up her rocket launcher with four rockets and fired at both of them, smacking one of them down but the other had been quick to get away. Instead it rounded on Malik who was slightly unprepared with his Stinger. He fired a cluster of Tarydium shards at it, but the Skaarj leapt to the side and left the blue shards to scatter off the walls. Fortunately, Riker came in from behind and killed it with one blast from his ASMD before it had the chance to swipe off Malik's head.

"Thanks Riker," Malik replied, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Now I hope that we can actually get somewhere!" Riker replied.

As he finished those words, a heavy door lifted up to their left and revealed a room with a mechanism. Looking around, they realised that it must have been for the metal door opposite to their right. Malik entered the room and pushed back the three levers, watching the iron cogs turned and raise up the big metal door. He joined Riker and Kargoth as they passed through the threshold and found themselves along an open walkway that looked down into a vast arena. In the centre was a wooden post with dead Nali hanging off it.

Carefully so as not to break any limbs in their fall, they slid down the walls and landed into the arena below. Ahead of them was a rocket launcher positioned on a pedestal and a staircase leading down to some pipes below. There was nothing around them it had become deathly quiet once again; even the birds didn't seem to circle above the arena like they did everywhere else.

"Now what?" Kargoth felt pressed to whisper.

"How about one of us grabs that rocket launcher," Malik suggested.

"We can't carry more than one with us really."

"But if we meet this beast, we may need two for this fight."

"Good idea."

Riker nodded in agreement, watching as Malik walked over to where the 8-ball launcher was positioned on the pedestal. Kargoth and Riker prepared themselves for what ever was due to come out of any one of the three metal doors. As Mali picked up the rocket launcher, the wooden frame in the centre of the room was raised up and metal bars came across to block them exit through the pipes. The three doors slowly opened, steam filtering out from underneath them as they revealed their contents.

Two of the side ones were empty, but the central door directly opposite them revealed a creature like they'd never seen before. It must have towered at least 12 feet tall and it had long front arms and short, thick rear legs. It roared at them long and loud, picking up a stone at its feet and hurling it at Malik who stood with the rocket launcher. Swearing loudly, he jumped out of the way, ducking for cover behind the wooden post as he began loading his rocket launcher.

Kargoth whistled and jumped out from behind them wooden post, firing two rockets at the huge beast's chest. But it merely shrugged off the explosion and hurled two small boulders at her, forcing her to take cover once again. Riker tried one of his shock combos on it, but from the reaction of the creature, he might as well not have bothered wasting his ammunition.

"How the hell do we kill this thing?" Riker asked.

"My guess," Kargoth replied. "Lots and lots of rockets!"

"It looks a little thick, so maybe we can confuse it with out three lots of fire power. That seemed to confused those Brutes back in the mines, so maybe we can do the same to this thing too."

Getting up, the three of them ran off away from the wooden beam in the centre of the arena as the giant beast threw a boulder at them. However, it missed them completely and cannoned straight into the post, showering the floor with large splinters of wood. It creaked as it cracked at the base, slowly collapsing into the wall of the arena and squashing one of the Nali corpses hanging off it.

Malik and Kargoth took the creature on together with their rocket launchers, Riker distracting it and trying to blast away the rocks it threw with the ASMD. It soon began to show signs of tire and it was becoming far more irritated by the rockets that were fired at it. They had drawn blood now and they were beginning to see that the creature was indeed stoppable. It wasn't long before they fired their last rocket at it, bringing it crashing down to the ground, its heavy landing shaking the foundations of the Dark Arena.

"If we can kill Titans like that, then we can kill anything this rock wants to throw at us from now!" Riker cheered.

"Just as soon as I get more 8-balls for this gun," Kargoth added.

"Look, there's a passageway out of here."

Riker indicated to the door which the Titan had come in through. They jogged over to it, stepping around the Titanic corpse of the fallen creature. Inside the doorway, there were two 8-ball packs sitting stacked their along with two plants baring the Nali fruit. All three of them sat down and replenishing their energy with the healing fruits while Kargoth reloaded the rocket launcher.

Feeling energised again from their confrontation with the Titan and the filling of their stomachs, they set off through the passageway. There were two wooden doors either side of the hallway, both of which were locked. On the headwall opposite a stair case leading down to another door, Riker spotted a lever. He pulled it down, the mechanism creaking behind the wall and opening the door with a creak. Weapons at the ready for whatever was coming for them next, they exited the Dark Arena for the outside world and more fresh air.


	9. 9 Harobed Village

**Chapter 9 – Harobed Village**

There was one different thing about the outer world of Na Pali; evening was drawing in and the stars could be seen above the clouds. A deep blue, almost purple, hue was added to the landscape and it appeared to enhance this planet's beauty more than ever. But the prisoners knew that looks were deceptive. Na Pali, though home to some benevolent natives, was also home to evil creatures bent on destruction. It almost seemed like they wanted to be rid of the Nali and purify the planet in their favour.

Malik lead the way along a stone wall through an open gateway which led into a small village which contained many houses, much like the ones they saw at Nyleve Falls besides the Vortex Rikers. They entered one of the houses, spying one of the Nali hovering opposite the fire place.

"All these things seem to do is pray," Malik commented.

"At least they don't try to shoot you on sight," Riker pointed out.

"A good thought, my friend."

He walked over to a table whilst Kargoth salvaged some more flares out of the barrel in the corner. Her pockets were beginning to get full and they hadn't needed to use one yet; but she continued to insist that their time of usage would eventually come. Malik turned over the pages in a small, leather bound book on the table, holding is translator over them to read what the Nali had been writing. Nothing of interest seemed to be evident until he paused on a likely paragraph.

"This sounds interesting," he muttered.

"More Nali stories?" Riker asked.

"Maybe, but if it's true, I'd like to see it."

"Go ahead."

"I shall not stay here a moment longer. I shall travel up to the Sunspire where I should be safe. Before I go, I'll take with me the Sky Demon's weapon which is kept in the tower of the abbey."

"I saw that at the top of the hill," Kargoth stated.

"Should we go and see?"

"I'd like a new gun."

She shrugged and got to her feet after salvaging all the flares she needed from the barrel. She opened the door and left the house, Malik and Riker joining her outside in the fresh evening air. However, as they took a step passed a well in the centre of small village, they were swarmed upon by large flies.

"God, these things are disgusting!" Kargoth exclaimed.

She took out her automag and picked them off one by one, each bullet splashing them out of existence and showering the grass with their blood. They were slow moving and simple to kill and Riker and Malik contented themselves watching her kill the flying insects. She still lost none of her hatred for bugs which had come to play aboard their old home. She'd waged a constant war against the cockroaches and maggots that had found their way about the ship and into the food. Malik remembered constantly waking up to the sound of her fly swat.

"Absolutely vile," she muttered.

She put away her gun and followed the two men up towards the abbey at the top of the hill. It was a pretty looking village despite the swarms of flies. They walked through the gap in the small wall and up the steps into the abbey, pleased not to meet any resistance on the way. No one particularly fancied opening fire on a creature in what was supposed to be a place of worship.

They walked passed the rows of wooden benches towards the front where a Nali with strange tattooed markings stood in front of a Nali statue. The four armed creature turned to face them but instead of backing off like most of them did, it looked at Riker and pointed upwards towards the roof.

"What the…?" Riker trailed off.

"I think he wants to know if you're after the Sky Demon's weapon," Kargoth explained. "That book Malik read from said the weapon was kept locked up in the tower of this abbey."

"Oh right!"

Riker turned back to the Nali and nodded his head. Strangely, the Nali knelt down on the floor in front of him and appeared to start praying. But they it got to its feet, indicated for them to stay put, and ran off down the far end towards the wall. It pushed aside and hidden doorway and disappeared up a flight of stairs and out sight into the tower. Riker smiled and turned back to Kargoth.

"And there he goes to fetch it for me!" he grinned.

A familiar looking ball of glowing energy flashed passed his left air and hit the wall behind the Nali Statue. Turning round and instantly fetching his ASMD, Riker saw the Skaarj standing in the entrance to the abbey. He turned a shock combo on the Skaarj which knocked it back into the wall, cracking its head on the brick work. It slid down, its red blood smearing across the stone wall.

"Nice," he noted.

The Nali soon came back down the stairs and with it the Sky Demon's weapon. It walked over to Riker, knelt down in front of him and offered him the weapon. Riker took it, the Nali bowing its head and floating up into its meditative position in front of the Nali statue. Riker inspected the weapon, Malik taking out the Universal Translator for some background on the weapon.

"You're in luck mate," he noted.

"What is it?"

"A Flak Cannon. Fires hot shards of flak I imagine."

"I can't say it doesn't sound nice."

"Just don't let it off accidentally," Kargoth warned.

"Oh yeah, and you with an 8-ball launcher?"

"Alright, alright!" Malik snapped. "Let's progress a little further."

Leading the way, Malik exited the abbey with his companions following him. They carried on down the hill and passed the well, standing outside of the stone walls and looking at the way they came. The fluttering red flag above the stone wall was certainly the exit of the Dark Arena. Opposite it was the gorge going away from them with some strange mechanical sounds coming from further down.

"Let's investigate that sound," Malik stated.

"I can't see anywhere else to go," Kargoth agreed.

They left the village behind and carried on down the gorge until they came to the source of the mechanical sounds. Above the rock faces was a large, metal plated structure which was certainly nothing like any human creation. Could this be a Skaarj base? Interested, they continued on down the gorge until they reached a lake of water which was in front of the huge complex. Several metal beams were lying at angles jutting out of the water, some of which were lights that flickered with fluctuating electricity. The area looked a bit of a mess.

Carefully, Riker stepped onto one of the metal beams and made his way into the water. The other two jumped in behind him and swam over to the other side, pulling themselves up onto the grassy bank. They tried their best to dry off before turning the corner around the metal wall that was to their right. On the other side were two dead bodies; one of a Skaarj and the other a strange creature which wore plenty of armour and which they had not yet encountered.

"Did our alien friend leave any messages?" Riker asked.

Malik crouched over the dead body of the Skaarj, noticing that it was similar to the one they found dead outside of the Chizra Temple. Like the other one, a dispersion pistol lay by its hand.

"I wish the Mercenaries would stop demanding more pay," he read. "They seem to think they can get it away with it; and they can! Seeing as they are the only ones capable of operating the Terraniux Facility. Hell, my Lord is going to kill me if he realises I've done away with one of the Mercs!"

"I assume that dead thing is one of the Mercs," Kargoth noted.

"Looks like some more enemies to deal with."

"They can't be worse than the Titans can they?"

"You don't know with this planet!" Riker cut in.

They stepped over the two corpses of the Skaarj and the Mercenary, coming face to face with the doors of the Terraniux Facility. They got the feeling from the word 'facility' that they could be travelling around another alien base for a long time.


	10. 10 Terraniux Underground

**Chapter 10 – Terraniux Underground**

The doors slid shut behind them as they entered the complex, but the walls were not metal as they expected them to be. They were underground inside a huge cavern and above them was a large lift shaft extending up into what must be the main Terraniux Facility. They moved towards the metal poles of the lift shaft, spotting a door concealed in the rock ahead.

"Hey, what about that doorway?" Kargoth asked.

She stopped the others in their tracks and pointed to a doorway to their left which was jutting out of the rock face. There was a button on there highlighted in red as though wanting to be pushed.

"I think we should check that out first," she noted.

"Because you're too lazy to want to come back here from that other room you mean?" Riker asked.

"Shut up!"

"She is right, we'll need to come back here anyway," Malik cut in. "We need to get into the Terraniux Facility if we're going to progress any further towards ISV-Kran in search of help. We need to have a go at operating that lift."

Kargoth smirked at Riker with satisfaction as Malik left them and approached the other doorway. He pushed the button on the side, hearing the sound of an operating mechanism somewhere above them. He turned round to face the lift shaft, watching as a box shaped lift came down towards them and stopped at ground level. The four walls of the box slowly moved downwards into the ground and revealed a Mercenary standing on top of the metal panel.

It stepped off the lift and turned on them, fiddling with something on its arm before firing a rocket at them. Cursing loudly, Kargoth rolled over to her right to avoid the rocket, hearing it slam into the wall behind them and take out a chunk of rock. She got to her feet and fired two 8-balls at the Mercenary, but they did not yet penetrate his armour. This one would be tough to kill.

"The bastard!" she swore. "This'll take a bit of working."

Riker fired a smouldering ball of hot, welded flak at the Mercenary, watching as it shattered on contact with its armour into smaller fragments. Its green blood dripped onto the floor as the hot flak ripped into its flesh, piercing the armour in some places. It was a good start. Malik distracted the alien from behind with his Stinger before Kargoth was able to nail it with a single rocket on the head. Its head was crushed beneath the weight of the 8-ball and then disintegrated as the rocket exploded.

"That's one way to take him out," Kargoth commented, loading another 8-ball into the launcher.

"That's brought down the lift, so how do we get it to go up?" Malik asked.

"That room through there perhaps," Riker replied.

He indicated towards the door they originally planned to go through.

"My thoughts exactly," Malik agreed.

Riker opened the doors and went in first with his Flak Cannon at the ready, the other two following him. They crossed over a grated walkway which was between two rotating cylinders with blue lights passing across from one end to the other. They walked through the beams of light into a room which looked more like an alien base, and fortunately not at all like the Rrajagar Mines.

Two Mercenaries were inside the room, pushing buttons on the wall mounted control consoles. Feeling a little stronger now they had better weapons between them, Riker and Malik took one the first together while Kargoth finished off the second with the 8-ball. Malik was beginning to think that he'd feel much better off if he had kept that 8-ball they found at Dark Arena. However, it would have been too much to carry more than one rocket launcher and more draining on the ammunition. Differing weapons were better at different things, so big and bulky was not necessarily a good thing.

The small fight was ended by Riker shredding the first Mercenary to chunks of green meat with his Flak Cannon and the second one having its cadaver catapulted across the room by a stray 8-ball. Malik lowered his Stinger and approached the console that the Mercenaries had been reading.

"This is pretty important," Malik explained.

"Is that our lift controls?" Riker asked.

"Sure is. Power needs to be released in order to bring the lift back to the surface. Intruders will be stopped before they reach the Terraniux Compound. Intruder alert signals have been triggered."

"They'll be watching for us then," Kargoth replied.

"We'll have to be careful. Come on."

Malik lead the way back through the rotating corridor to the cavern, each taking turn to step on the lift. It started up and climbed its way to the top, the wind rushing passed them as it increased its velocity. It slowed down once it reached the top, coming to a halt in the lift shaft and the doors opening ahead of them. They stepped out and found themselves in a duct above two large pools of a strange green fluid which bubbled with a sickly sound. It looked like Terraniux was a bio waste disposal facility or processing plant. This journey would be a memorable one.

The three of them jumped down from the pipes onto a walkway aside a pool of bio waste which had a mirrored floor. They attacked and killed the Mercenary that jumped down from the crate, turning into a corridor and coming face to face with a Slith as it raised itself onto the bridge from the waste. Clearly they took to anything that was fluid based, not merely water. Riker shredded it in a single shot with his Flak Cannon and they walked passed its corpse and onto another mirror floored platform.

They killed yet another Mercenary, realising that they must have been stationed around to watch out for intruders. It stopped and shot a burst from a small Gattling type weapon until it had to pause and reload. Once it was reloading, Riker took that moment to once again put his Flak Cannon to good use. He approached the Mercenary and killed it instantly, its armour not being as strong as the one that had met them down the lift shaft. The chunks easily ripped through its armour to the flesh, cutting away at the bone and cutting its limbs off.

"They must be all over the place!" Malik shook his head.

"Don't miss a thing as far as intruders are concerned," Kargoth replied.

"We'd better get a move on before any more reinforcements arrive. I want to get to ISV-Kran as soon as possible. I only hope that when we do get there, the ship's in a reasonable state to try and get operable."

"And you think three of us can pilot a dirty great Russian star ship?"

"I was kind of hoping some of the crew might be alive."

"After what we've seen so far, I doubt that!"

"No harm in hoping, is there?"

She shrugged. "I guess not; I spent years hoping the Vortex Rikers would go down and give me my freedom. I didn't quite hope we'd land on a planet inhabited by ruthless creatures like these, but hey, it's better than our old bug infested flying prison bus."

"That's one way of putting it."

The three of them opened another door and found themselves in a room with a large, thick pipe attached to one wall behind supports. It made a loud, deep noise much like water being forced through on the inside with lots of pressure. Malik wondered over to the console at the far end of the wall which was near another one of those glowing red buttons.

"This might be useful," he began. "These controls apparently are for pumping out the waste in the chambers below."

"Perhaps we can progress from there," Riker agreed.

"You mean trek through a load of sewers?" Kargoth asked.

"Precisely!"

"I like the sound of that."

Malik pushed the button on the far wall and heard the sound of a strange, alien machine kick into action and drain away all of the waste. He turned back to the others and faced the door and they prepared themselves for a long journey ahead of them through the waste processing plant.


	11. 11 Terraniux

**Chapter 11 – Terraniux**

The doors shut behind them and they noticed one big difference now the pump had been activated; the bio waste below had gone. They followed their tracks back to where they'd come from but no other doors had magically appeared like they seemed to have hoped for. Instead, they lowered themselves down to the level below which was once occupied by the bio waste. They walked around for a few moments, occasionally slipping over on the slimy surface and having to grab onto one of the others for support.

"I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea," Riker noted, glancing at his feet.

"Could you see anywhere else to go?" Malik queried.

"No, I guess not."

"Well then; after you."

Riker climbed up into one of the pipes and walked along the uneven flooring to a large door ahead. Malik and Kargoth followed him through it, slipping down a steep side into another large pipe below. Using a slightly less steep side, they climber up the other end and emerged into another dip where another door was ahead of them. They seemed to be making progress once again.

The doors opened to permit them and they found themselves at the bottom of a pit. They walked around and eventually came to a lift which took them up to the surface level where a few Mercenaries were sat around a wall panel. They jumped to attention at their presence and started firing at them, one of the activating a strange sort of shielding device around itself and running around quickly. Not put off by this, the prisoners stood their ground and killed the two Mercenaries quickly, the one which was once shielded falling down into the pit to its death. Malik approached the console they had been reading and activated the translator, reading the message out.

"Section C, not filled," he stated.

"Well observed," Kargoth replied, looking down into the pit.

"There's one of those buttons again," Riker pointed out.

"They seem to be all over the place!"

"And they seem to help us get out! Go for it Riker," Malik cut in.

Riker walked around the outside of the pit and jumped over a crack in the ground, landing hard on his feet. He approached the button and pushed it in, the red glow turning into a purplish hue. He returned to the others as they walked up a stair case and exited Section C for a main set of catwalks. They walked around them and came to a door which was barred shut with a sign across it.

"Simple this time," Malik explained. "It says Access Denied."

"I feel we'll be hearing a lot of that," Kargoth said, grimly.

"That's what comes for being an intruder."

They left the door behind and came to another one of the waste pits. This time, the Translator indicated this was Section A and was 100 full. It also contained three Mercenaries, which was a bit of the blow. During the fight that followed, Malik was desperately wishing he had a better weapon to fight with. A Stinger was not really a match for these Mercenaries, who were heavily armoured and armed with a little Gattling gun and a rocket launcher.

He had to rely on the back up assistance of Riker once he'd shredded his Mercenary to pieces with the Flak Cannon. The small cannon which once belonged to a Skaarj Trooper was now beginning to overtake Kargoth's 8-ball gun on some accounts; it was certainly much better at killing the Mercs. By the time Riker had killed his and assisted Malik, Kargoth had smacked down her target.

"I think Flak beats 8-ball today," Riker commented, smirking.

"For once I'll have to agree with you one something," Kargoth grumbled.

"Oh halleluiah!" Malik replied, sarcastically.

He approached the button and pushed it in, once again turning it into the purplish shade like the previous button. The three of them left Section A satisfied and carried on along the catwalk set to Section B, which was 48 full according to Malik's Universal Translator. With only one Merc this time around, they had an easy ride through the to the button at the other end, which Kargoth went for seeing as the 8-ball gun was beginning to run a little low on ammunition. She didn't particularly want to rely on her supercharged dispersion pistol, even if it was a nice, compact little weapon.

Like the other button, it too turned into the purplish shade and now all three buttons had been pushed. The prisoners made their way back through to the catwalk section and back to the door, but it was still locked.

"Now where the hell do we go," Malik growled.

"Clearly out lucky button thing didn't work this time," Riker noted.

"Perhaps it's activated something else this time."

"I did notice some door ways in the three Sections," Kargoth cut in. "Perhaps where they lead to those handy little controls have activated. Maybe we just need to look around a little more rather than assume the obvious all the time."

"Let's go back and investigate these doors then."

Letting Kargoth lead the way back to Section C, they followed her back down the staircase, around the side of the bio waste filled pit and into one of the covered doorways she'd found. They came to a little area which was full of more bio waste but contained a lift at one end. They approached it, Malik walking up to the computer screen and reading the message it held.

"Lift inoperable due to a broken pipe," he read. "Hmm, helpful."

Malik looked up into the lift shaft above, seeing that one of the pipes had been bent and was now blocking the path upwards. He could see a doorway up above where the lift would have taken them to. They needed to get up there.

"Perhaps there's another lift on the other side," Kargoth suggested.

"There's only one way to find out," Malik replied.

They worked their way back round to Section A before finding lift one which was in operation. They travelled up to the levels above, which looked like greenhouses used for growing strange looking plants. There were several Mercenaries on guard but they fended them off easily, Kargoth having to go astray up a lift where she found some more 8-balls to reload her rocket launcher with. The others followed her up there, Riker having to defend her from a nearby Merc with his Flak Cannon.

They proceeded into the room which the Mercenary had come in from and found themselves in an area with several lifts. One of the doors seemed to have control centre access, but the message this time was slightly different. It said control centre access was needed before granting permission to Noork's Elbow. They gathered that had to be the way out of Terraniux. It would hopefully take them further to ISV-Kran.

There were three lifts in the small room, so they decided to take one each up to the next level. Kargoth picked up another weapon power up for the dispersion pistol which was floating on its usual shots of blue energy. She watched the gun change shape once again into something more powerful as the men searched the upper area for a way to the control centre. There was nothing here except a set of scuba gear which Riker claimed for himself. Now they were both equipped for underwater passage.

"There's nothing up here," Malik concluded.

"No control centre, no nothing!" Riker added. "Only some medical kits."

"We'd better take those just in case," Kargoth noted. "You never know."

"We can't carry everything we come across, Kargoth."

"And besides," Malik cut in. "They'll have stuff like that at ISV-Kran."

"Who knows how far away that is," Kargoth pointed out.

"My gut feeling says not far."

"Yeah, until lunch time!" Riker laughed.

Once realising there was nothing much up here, the three of them headed down back to the greenhouses via the lifts. They came into Greenhouse 2 and were met with more resistance which Kargoth met with her newly transformed dispersion pistol. It seemed to work very well once again. It even managed to completely disintegrate one of the heads of the Mercs.

"Lovely!" Kargoth grinned.

"There we go! A way out!" Riker pointed out.

They approached the door which he'd spotted and pushed the button to lower it, climbing up into the next room. There was nothing in here except for another door which said 'entry to Noork's Elbow can only be granted by control centre access'. Other than that, there was only a pipe contained more bio waste below them. Unfortunately, it looked like they had to swim down through it.

"We've all got aqua lungs," Malik noted.

"Come on," Kargoth complained. "Water is slightly different to bio waste!"

"She's right, what if it's toxic," Riker agreed.

Malik sighed and put his hand into the slightly viscous green fluid. He took his hand out again and showed it to the others. Yes, it had not been damaged by the stuff, but it was awfully slimy and smelt a little bit like strong petrol. Kargoth didn't mind the smell, but Riker wasn't overly keen.

"It's the only way to the control centre," Malik explained.

"I could always meet you by the door," Riker shrugged.

"No; no one is splitting up. We stick together, understood?"

Kargoth smiled. "Perfectly."

The three of them, though slightly unwillingly, dived into the bio waste tube and swam to the bottom, their aqua lungs kicking in. It was rather useful seeing as it prevented any bio waste getting into their mouths and possible contaminating them. Kargoth took the lead and took out a torch she had found on the Vortex Rikers, switching it on and watching the beam search out a path for them to follow.

They swam down into a pipe which was pitch black and smelt strongly of the strange bio waste. Kargoth lead them down along it and out of the waste at a maximum peak of the pipe's bend. They slid down the pipe and out into what appeared to be the control centre. They were met by three Mercenaries who were waiting for them with their rocket launchers and little Gattling Guns ready. It didn't take long to attack them all, but they seemed to lose interest in Malik after a while.

Letting Riker and Kargoth finish off their enemies, Malik wondered over to a glass panel which was flashing with blue lights. He looked beyond it and saw an area they had not yet been in. Perhaps this was Noork's Elbow. However, his attention soon turned on a strange looking weapon mounted on a pedestal in front of the window. He picked it up, seeing the pipe which connected the barrel of the gun to a container at the back which was filled with a bright green slime. The Translator called it a GES Bio Rifle. It sounded pretty interesting.

Turning around, he saw that Riker was in trouble. The Merc and knocked his Flak Cannon out of his hand at sent it skidding across the floor. Malik charged up a large clump of bio waste into the barrel of the rifle and fired it at the Mercenary. It was a large, slow moving globular shaped splodge of bright green slime and as soon as it hit the Merc, it clung to its skin and blew him to bits. Malik laughed and stroked the barrel of his new weapon. It would go alongside his Stinger nicely.

"What's that?" Kargoth asked with interest.

"A GES Bio Rifle," he explained. "Uses this waste I imagine."

"Sounds lovely."

She crossed the room to where the Mercenary's body parts had been scattered into a small heap. She smelt the air around it, noticing the faint petroleum smell that was common to the waste in Terraniux.

"Yeah, definitely the same stuff," she commented.

"Let's get out of here," Malik noted.

"Yeah, before the smell of this stuff intoxicates me!" Riker shook his head.

He sneezed loudly as Malik crossed the room and opened the door to the control centre. They found themselves out on the catwalk centre besides the three Sections of bio waste pits, but they already knew where to go from their previous adventure to find the control centre. They made there way over to Section A and found the lift which took them up to the greenhouses above.

They were met with resistance along the way but they easily managed to cut through them with Malik's Bio Rifle, Kargoth's 8-ball gun and Riker's Flak Cannon. After killing the last Merc that got in their way, they found the lift they'd used before to find the control centre access and returned there to find the door that was previously locked now open. Riker disintegrated the Mercenary beyond the door while Malik found some more ammunition to collect for his Bio Rifle and Kargoth pushed a button. That triggered a lift which came down at the far end.

"Is that it?" she asked.

Malik glanced at his Translator.

"Yeah, that's the lift to Noork's Elbow," he noted.

"Then let's go and pay a visit."

The three of them stepped onto the lift which took them down to a different level and stopped them in front of a door. They approached the door and it opened, stepping out into some fresh air for the first time in a while since they first entered the Terraniux Compound.


	12. 12 Noork's Elbow

**Chapter 12 – Noork's Elbow**

Outside of the door they appeared into a small metal compartment that was situated high above the ground level. There was some scattered ammunition lying around in some broken up wooden crates and they took a while to reload their weapons which had been drained somewhat with killing the heavily armoured Mercenaries in the Terraniux Compound. Kargoth looked around and peered down through the bars to the ground below, spying two Mercs wondering around.

"Can I take out just one?" she asked.

Malik turned to look. "Do you have to?"

"I want to see them jump!"

He sighed and rolled his eyes skyward. "If you have to."

Smiling to herself, Kargoth lay down and rested the 8-ball launcher on the ground, locking the Mercenary furthest away into the targeting system. She fired the rocket, watching as it sped towards the Merc, followed its path of motion and slammed into him. Due to the velocity it had carried forwards, it was able to kill it with one shot, the gibs shooting away and bouncing off a nearby Nali house.

"Wicked!" she laughed.

She got to her feet and followed Malik and Riker down the ramp. Her companions had walked off a while ago after she'd fired the rocket and were already attacking the second Mercenary. Clearly it hadn't missed its counterpart being killed by a rocket of an unknown origin. Malik managed to pin it with a large blob of bio fluid which exploded on contact with the alien and blew it into shreds. He noticed the smirk on Kargoth's face; well why shouldn't he have some fun in a while?

They approached the two Nali houses which were desolate and their occupants no longer here. Kargoth collected some more flares while Riker found some more ammunition for his ASMD. Malik, after reloading his Stinger with some more ammo, approached one of the tables which had a book on it. He held his Translator over it, listening to Riker as he shot down a giant fly with his Shock Rifle.

"I wonder where that is," Malik wondered aloud.

"Where what is?" Kargoth asked. "The mysterious ISV-Kran?"

"No! This book says 'We have abandoned our settlement here since the agents of the Sky Demons built their noise factory here. By retreating to the Temple of Vandora the Lightning God, we will hopefully be able to make it to the Sunspire alive."

"Which one? The Temple of Vandora or the Sunspire?"

Malik shrugged. "Which ever is closer."

"The Nali sure like their temples," Riker commented.

"We should get further down Noork's Elbow and see," Kargoth suggested.

They left the deserted Nali village behind and headed along down the slope away from the noisy Terraniux Complex. Once they turned a corner, they came face to face with a large, old looking stone building. They slowed their pace in awe of the huge structure, walking over a stone bridge across the water.

"I'm guessing this is the Temple of Vandora," Malik stated.

"Why not the Sunspire?" Riker asked.

"Riker, does that look like a spire to you?" Kargoth asked.

"I assumed the Sunspire is only a name. It could be another temple."

"I think Malik's reasoning is sounder. It looks like a temple."

"We'll soon see."

Malik shook his head, his companions not noticing. At least their constant bickering meant they were not changing their personalities too much. He liked his friends exactly the way they were and he wouldn't have wanted to change them for a free ride off this planet. Above all they needed to stick together and he hoped that slightly rivalry between Riker and Kargoth wouldn't force them to separate. If he left Na Pali alive, so would the others.

As they approached the temple, a wooden drawbridge lowered ahead of them and permitted them access to the front platform. Malik approached the main doors of the temple, which didn't open as was to be expected. He took out his Translator and read what the message said.

"Temple of Vandora," he stated. "Nali Lightning God."

"Told you," Kargoth sighed.

"Alright, so what about this Sunspire?" Riker asked.

"I say not to worry about it until we find ISV-Kran."

"We haven't found any more dead people at all. Only aliens."

"Then perhaps that's a good sign the ISV-Kran's crew is still alive."

"So, you're all up for finding the Russian ship now?" Malik asked.

"Of course. I spent the journey through Terraniux hoping it may have crash landed at Noork's Elbow!"

That had been futile.

With Malik in the lead, the three of them entered the temple via a side entrance which so far devoid of Skaarj, Mercenaries and even Nali. For once, it was even devoid of dead things.


	13. 13 Temple of Vandora

**Chapter 13 – The Temple of Vandora**

The three of them climbed the spiral staircase that lead into the temple and instantly arrived into an outside area. They moved across it to the other side, but metal bars slammed shut across it and barred their exit. From above, a Skaarj jumped down and ambushed them, three Mantas hovering above waiting to swoop in. Malik attacked the Skaarj with the GES Bio Rifle which was becoming a rather useful weapon to have with them. Once the Skaarj was killed, the three Mantas swooped in from overhead and attacked them, but had to give way to Riker's Flak Cannon.

Once all the creatures were dead, the metal bars ahead of them moved away and permitted them entrance further into the temple. Round a corner, there was another exit to the outside which was barred shut, leaving the only route into the dark, torch lit corridors of the temple. As they walked down another set of spiral stairs, they realised that this place was much bigger and much more ancient than the Temple of Chizra they had previous visited. This place had a spookier air about it.

At ground level, Kargoth looked down into a pool of water in the centre, but the bottom was black with absence of light. However, even if the very depths didn't lead to any where, there was a small, underwater cave guarded by one of the fish.

"I'll go and investigate," she stated.

"I fancy staying here," Riker replied.

"If there's anything there, I'll come back and get you."

She left her rocket launcher with Malik for the time being, putting the aqualung into her mouth. She dived down into the depths of the pool, killing the fish before disappearing into the cave. Riker sighed and sat down, jumping slightly as he brushed passed the arm of a dead human. Clearly some of the security guards from the Vortex Rikers had got quite far; he recognised this man. He was one of the fairer guards on his level of the ship.

"Do you think they'll lock us up again?" Riker asked.

Malik turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"When we get back home; will they lock us up again?"

"Perhaps it depends what happens."

"What? You mean like who finds us?"

"Perhaps. I'm hoping that when we get to ISV-Kran, there will be people there who can help us, perhaps put us up. If it's as big as Kargoth recons it is, then it should be pretty well protected. My sister's husband is Russian and I know them to be quite fair as a race. I'm sure, given the situation that we're in, they wont turned a blind eye and lock us away for our past criminal offences."

"I hope so."

"I don't want to get locked up again. Not after the Vortex Rikers."

"I caught Kargoth saying once she'd rather die than be locked up."

"Some would. I prefer to think that people will eventually let us go."

"And some unfortunate others just get the chair."

"I don't know how Kargoth takes to that; the British don't have the death penalty."

"How did you and Kargoth get onto the Vortex anyway? She's Yankee built and was only really home to Canadians, Mexicans, South Americans and Yanks. There were very few Europeans onboard."

Malik smirked. "Let's just say Europeans don't believe in the death penalty. For their worst offenders, they ship them off to be put on prisoner ships like the Vortex Rikers in hope that the Americans might do it for them. That way they don't have to suffer the whole aspect of killing someone."

"I guess we're all as bad as each other."

"Maybe we are."

Eventually, Kargoth came back to the surface and lifted herself up back onto the side, dripping water everywhere. She removed the aqualung from her mouth, Malik noticing a change in the appearance of her dispersion pistol yet again. She was smirking as she slid it back into her belt and picked up the 8-ball gun, slinging it back onto her shoulder.

"Nothing there other than a small cave," she shrugged.

"And a dispersion pistol power up," Malik put in.

"Lovely; you noticed!"

"Well you're not the type to change your appearance, so why not your gun's?"

He shrugged, indicating for the others the follow him. Down a corridor, they watched as a Skaarj ran at a Nali , which was hovering mid air in prayer. It slashed at the defenceless creature with its wrist blades, slicing off its head which was sent rolling down the stairs. It then turned on them, firing its white bolts of energy at them. Riker shredded it to pieces of dripping red meat with the Flak Cannon and they continued on down the corridor uninterrupted.

They were then faced with another junction of two ways to turn, one which led down another corridor and the other which led into a small chapel. They decided to investigate the first, climbing up the steps to the altar and allowing Kargoth to collect some more flares. Malik and Riker turned round to the opposite wall, regarding the picture on the wall which showed an evil looking Nali woman with white, feathery wings sitting on a chair.

"Hmm," Malik noted, flicking back through the logs in the Translator. "Technically, this should be Vandora the Lightning Goddess."

"Maybe the Nali don't differentiate," Kargoth replied.

"How do you mean?"

"You know; males and females look a like. Not much difference."

She shrugged, turning up to look at the picture.

"Or maybe they don't," she shrugged again.

"Certainly strange… ah… artwork."

"Goes to show though," Riker added. "Four arms certainly go with four…"

Kargoth hit him hard on the face before he could finish that sentence, glaring at him harshly. Malik smirked and laughed at his friend, who decided against making a comment at that moment.

"Wise move Riker," he noted.

"Let's carry on shall we?" Riker queried.

He offered Kargoth to lead the way which she accepted, still casting dark looks in the Canadian's way. Malik shook his head and walked on passed Riker, he bringing up the rear as they followed the other corridor. They walked passed what looked like a sleeping chamber that contained four bunk beds cut into the walls. Unfortunately they woke up one of the occupants, which was one of the slightly smaller Skaarj Troopers that carried a Bio Rifle.

There was a short fire fight, Malik now matched for firepower. Kargoth intervened and smacked the creature down with the 8-ball, stepping over the Skaarj's cadaver to inspect the rifle. She took one of the sludge boxes out, noticing that it was half full. She threw it over to Malik who caught it and stored it away.

"You may as well keep it just in case," she noted.

"Handy, thank you," he replied.

She got to her feet and followed her companions out, reaching a dead end in the corridor. To their left was a staircase leading down to a small harbour with a wooden boat tethered up to it. To their right was another section, one of which overlooked the indoor lake and the door opposite which was barred shut. Malik approached a small sign that was overhanging, taking out the Translator to read the Nali language.

"The way is shadowed with darkness," he read. "Only the Torch of Tranquillity can provide light for the path of the worthy. Achieving light to this passage can only be done when the Torch of Tranquillity is aflame."

"They like their 'something of something' bit, don't they?" Kargoth noted.

"Like Stick of 6 Fires you mean," Riker questioned.

"Exactly!"

"I take it we should take the ferry," Malik commented.

He put the Translator away and walked on passed the other two towards the little harbour where the boat was tethered. Kargoth and Riker stepped in first, Malik getting in last and untying the rope from the wooden post. The boat was set off along the small lake and into a wider area of which a large platform stood in the centre. This platform however was dark and uninviting. Riker soon pointed out something floating in the sky. It looked round with several eyes and two arms.

"What on Earth is that?" he asked.

"Nothing on Earth Riker," Kargoth cut in. "This is Na Pali."

There were two of the floating creatures and they both came towards them sluggishly. The closest one fired a red, gaseous cloud towards them from its mouth, Kargoth having to duck. The cloud burned the wood of the boat slightly. Riker fired two shots of Shock energy at the creatures before bringing it spiralling down and splashing to its death in the water. He then turned on the other one, two shots also bringing that crashing down, dead.

"What was that stuff?" Kargoth asked staring at the burn mark. "Acid?"

"Couldn't be, it was gaseous," Malik observed.

"Vaporised acid?"

"I don't think it was acid. Just a strange sort of gas."

Riker glanced down through the water at the dead creature.

"Gas Bag," he grumbled.

The boat soon came into another harbour and Malik through out the rope to tether it down again. They stepped out and climbed the steps, looking to their left and seeing an empty chamber which must have been for the Torch of Tranquillity. The went to their right, guessing they might find somewhere to light it; like a giant matchstick or something similar.

There was a Skaarj Warrior guarding what looked like a switch at the other end of the wall. Kargoth smacked it down quickly with her rocket launcher and ran over to where the switch was, pushing in the button. Behind them, the doors opened revealing an empty torch bracket which had to be the largest torch bracket they'd ever seen. In fact, coming from the age of electricity, it was the first torch bracket they'd seen besides props in films set in ancient times, which had mostly been boring any way.

The three prisoners approached the stone bracket, Riker standing on a switch which was hidden on the floor. With a whooshing sound, a purple ball of fire shot down into the torch bracket and lit a huge purple flame in the centre. It lit up the entire chamber with eerie, flickering purple light and filled the space with the crackling sound of flame. It was a rather pretty sight.

"Electricity was never this good," Riker recalled.

"I bet this is cheaper too," Kargoth noted.

"I don't feel particularly tranquil though."

"I bet the Skaarj believe the feeling's mutual!"

The three of them returned to the wooden boat, Malik untying it again and letting it travel back to the way they came from. As they hoped, the bars had been released from the door and they could now progress further. They stepped off the boat and walked up the stairs, passing through the threshold of the now open doorway. They walked up a wide spiral staircase to an area above where Kargoth spotted some flares sitting on a wooden bench.

She went to collect them, now happy at the growing number of red objects in her pockets. She followed Malik and Riker up another set of stairs and across a wooden walkway which was over an area they had previously been two. They recognised the Skaarj corpse which was lying dead at the stairwell. Once across to the other side, they turned a corner they instantly spotted a Skaarj which was kneeling down cleaning its wrist blades. Once it spotted them, it rose to its feet and pushed a button on the wall, immediately jumping into attack.

"Who's betting that's our escape route blocked?" Malik asked.

"If so, then it shall die!" Kargoth snarled.

They attacked and killed the Skaarj Warrior with no hesitation, taking a left turn up a staircase and hitting a barred doorway. It lead outside and Riker spotted a cave on the other side which must have lead away from the Temple of Vandora. They'd had their escape route blocked off.

"Damn thing," he growled. "Now where?"

"There's another staircase," Malik replied. "We'll have to find another way."

"What if there is no other way?"

"There must be; there always is."

Malik lead them back down the staircase and up the one ahead of them, stepping gingerly over the Skaarj corpse which had already begun attracting flies. They crossed another wooden walkway, which was above the small chapel they'd been in before. Riker glanced at the picture of the strange Nali Goddess again, quickly averting his gaze as Kargoth glared at him.

At the other end, metal bars rose up and they found themselves in the same opening where the Skaarj had ambushed them before. But this time, there was a Behemoth standing their blocking their passage through. It took them a while to bring it down, but a burning ball of flak fired from Riker's Flak Cannon was enough to bring it down to its knees in the end.

They walked around its corpse and through the way which had once been barred shut. It lead outside and they had to climb over pretty rush terrain before they came across a Skaarj Trooper waiting for them with a dispersion pistol. Taking that as a challenge, Kargoth took out her more advanced dispersion pistol, which now had three small cannons attached to it, and took up assault. Even though the Skaarj did jump around all over the place to evade her shots, which had transformed from a fiery orange to a deep red, she eventually brought it down.

"You're rather fond of that Dispersion Pistol aren't you?" Malik asked.

"Wouldn't you be? It's getting more powerful by the minute!" she grinned.

"Certainly a patch one what we've got."

They continued on down the slope, passing some strange looking two legged creatures which were standing still, eating the grass. Their big black eyes almost resembled the eyes of cows back on Earth. However, the appearance of these creatures was far from similar to cows. Ignoring them for the time being, they carried on away from them and came to a brick entrance in the rock face. Intrigued with where this lead, they walked on through it.

They were attacked by another Behemoth in the entrance to this chamber and Riker was given the charge of brining it down. He shredded it up with the Flak Cannon, which had almost replaced Kargoth's 8-ball as the most powerful weapon. They exited the small hallway into another outdoor place which was almost like a smaller version of the Dark Arena. They were standing on the top step of what looked like an amphitheatre and in the centre was a raised stone platform supporting a Titan.

"Not another one," Kargoth hissed.

"Better get the 8-ball out," Malik noted.

"Could we try and get passed unnoticed?"

Riker looked doubtful. "I guess there's no harm in trying."

They tried to make their way through to the cave, but the instant they got there, the Titan spotted them and started howling its awful war cry. A little bit disappointed because they were almost there, they turned to face the Titan, having to duck out of the way as it hurled a boulder at them. Fortunately it didn't seem to want to leave its little platform and reach them at the top step, so distance was a factor. The further it was away from them, the better.

The Bio Rifle wasn't a long range weapon, so Malik had to make do with the Stinger once again. However, the Tarydium shards didn't seem to take much affect on the animal's tough hide. The Flak Cannon was also close range, so Riker had retrieved his much loved ASMD Shock Rifle to distract the creature. Kargoth was advantaged again and was able to take the Titan on to her full strengths with the 8-ball gun. Her weapon soon proved itself once more and this large animal wasn't so tough to bring down as the monster in the Dark Arena. Before long, it had crashed to the floor with a small rumble of an earthquake.

"Perfect," Kargoth noted, smiling.

She stroked the barrel of her 8-ball gun.

"In heaven again are we?" Riker asked sarcastically.

"And you don't feel the same way about the Flak Cannon?"

Riker blushed, Malik laughed and clapping him on the shoulder.

"And Nali Goddesses are way beyond you," he commented.

Kargoth flashed Malik a killer look, quickly reloading the 8-ball gun and slinging it over her shoulder for transport. With no more words about the Nali Lightning God, they left behind the Temple of Vandora through the small cave, having to dive forwards as the roof collapsed in. It had looked unstable from the beginning and the shock wave sent out by the Titan falling over must have caused it to crack more.

"So much for that," Malik noted, coughing from the dust.

"Now there's no going back to the Vandora Temple," Riker added.

"Shame," Kargoth growled.

"Look, what do you expect?"

"A little more respect for the Nali Gods, perhaps?"

"Yeah sure, and that was really what you meant…"

"Listen you two," Malik snapped. "Leave it!"

She glowered slightly, but forgot about it as she got to her feet, helping the others to theirs. They brushed the dust off themselves and carried on down the cave and the other side was soon to reveal something welcoming.


	14. 14 The Trench

**Chapter 14 – The Trench**

They came to the top of a cliff and ahead of them they saw the dead body of a man dressed in an armoured uniform that was not a Vortex Rikers one. Kargoth approached him, rolling him over onto his front and inspecting the uniform. She saw the Inuit Corporation logo and the Russian Cyrillic writing on his officer's badge.

"Excellent!" she proclaimed. "He's Russian!"

"Then ISV-Kran must be nearby," Malik added, feeling relieved.

"What's our man left for us?"

Malik held the translator over him.

"Security Officer P. Marratov," he began. "The Skaarj have been trying to infiltrate ISV-Kran through the lower decks revealed by the trench our crash landing cut. We've programmed the door to recognise human life forms; standing in the red light should give access to the ship. Unfortunately, I cannot get back because the trench is being guarded by one of those Titans."

"That seems to me like ISV-Kran is just down that trench!" Kargoth smiled.

"I hope so, I'm longing for a lie down," Riker replied, massaging his temples.

"Headache?"

"Just a bit."

"Maybe that Nali Goddess didn't appreciate you."

"Very good Kargoth!"

He shook his head, ignoring her satisfied smirk as she turned to watch Malik put away his Translator. He got to his feet and peered down over the edge of the cliff they were currently occupying. Below them was a massive trench that must have been created by a large vessel, much bigger than the Vortex Rikers, crash landing. And as hoped, at the far end of the trench was a large space ship. It must have been ISV-Kran.

"You were right Kargoth," Malik confirmed. "There she is!"

Kargoth and Riker joined him, peering around the edge of the cliff and setting eyes on the Russian ship for the first time. Kargoth whistled her appreciation; it was a fantastic looking craft even if it was only the rear end.

"I wonder what the whole thing looks like," she noted.

"I don't think we'll find out to be honest," Malik replied.

"Perhaps; we might be able to get her working."

"We'll have to get onboard and find out how bad the situation."

"Hopefully not too bad, otherwise we're stuck here!"

Riker slipped on a loose stone and fell down the side of the cliff. He crouched down, spilling up dust as he slid down towards the base of the trench. He stood up on the ground and ran away as more rocks slide down. He looked back a wiped his forehead with the back of his hand; if he hadn't moved in time, those rocks would have crashed down right on his head.

"You alright down there Riker?" Malik asked.

"A little dusted, but alright!" Riker called back up.

"We'll join you."

"You'd better! That Titan's just seen me!"

Riker took out the Flak Cannon and aimed high, firing a hot ball of flak at the creature as it made its way slowly towards him. The flak ball landed on its head, but it took little affect. Riker cursed and slung the Flak Cannon back onto his shoulder, trying to irritate the creature out of stone hurling range with the ASMD until Kargoth came to the rescue with the 8-ball. It wasn't long before his prayers were answered and his two companions were back at his side and armed.

With the Titan, Malik's bio rifle wasn't much use, so he had to result in tormenting it with a few shards from his Stinger. Kargoth took the lead in the small fight, firing multiple rockets at the creature from the barrel of the 8-ball. Before long, the Titan gave up with one blast from an 8-ball before crashing to the floor, sending millions of dust particles up into the air.

"Let's get to that ship!" Kargoth proclaimed, reloading the 8-ball.

"What are those things?" Riker asked.

He pointed to the skies, watching as three spherical shaped objects with arm-like protrusions came floating towards them. As they came closer, they recognised the multiple eyes in their heads and the red gaseous cloud that they spat out of their mouths. The Gas Bags had returned.

"There those things we saw in the temple!" Malik exclaimed.

Riker loaded the ASMD. "Shock rifle time."

Each of the three Gas Bags took three shots from the ASMD to kill, each of them falling down from the sky one after the other. The final one did a strange sort of back flip mid-air before crashing down to its doom on the rocky floor of the trench. The three prisoners carried on towards ISV-Kran, tripping on the stones as they went. At the far end, they saw a Skaarj Trooper kneeling down at the base of the ISV-Kran doors, fiddling with its weapon and staring at a red light on the floor.

"Remember what Marratov left behind," Malik recalled.

"Yeah!" Kargoth replied. "Red light; it only recognises humans."

"Exactly. So we can get in, but that Skaarj cannot."

"I really long for a sniper rifle right now."

"I think we'd all like that."

Riker knelt down on the floor and rested the ASMD against his knee, taking aim at the Skaarj. He'd never had the best aim on Earth, Kargoth falling first in line for that, but now was the time to fire the best shot he'd ever fired in his life. He took his time, ignoring Kargoth as she sighed a checked her watch, however useless that was seeing as it had run out somewhere in the Rrajagar Mines.

He pulled back the trigger on the ASMD, smiling with satisfaction as his blue pulse bolt hit the Skaarj exactly where he'd aimed. The Skaarj immediately sensed the danger and got to its feet, rounding on them and running towards them away from the hull of ISV-Kran. It was only armed with a dispersion pistol, and it was easy to bring down between them, the culprit finally being a stray Tarydium shard from Malik's Stinger.

"I was impressed Riker," Kargoth commented.

"I knew that was the best shot of my life!" Riker replied, proudly.

"And possibly the last."

She clapped him on the shoulder and approached the hull of ISV-Kran ready to do the honours. She stepped into the red light, Malik and Riker joining her from behind. Slowly, the main bay doors slid open and filled the quiet trench with the mechanical sound it created. A lift painted with yellow and black hazard stripes slowly descended from the bay, stopping at Kargoth's feet.

"Look at that," she noted. "It just sounds like perfection!"

"The Russians like things smooth, don't they?" Riker complimented.

"I couldn't think of anything better to be in the safe hands of."

The three of them mounted the lift, grasping onto the pole as it ascended back into the main bay of ISV-Kran. They hoped off into the bay, watching as the doors slid shut and sealed them inside the Russian ship. They should have felt safe, but something told them not to be. They turned round, Malik laying eyes on an armoured suit with a control panel next to it. He walked over to it and touched the screen.

"Bio suits in operable," the computer stated.

However, it had seemed to activate another lift. A crane lift, also painted with yellow and black hazard stripes moved over and positioned itself above a panel. This floor panel, which Riker was standing on, lifted up and allowed him to mount the crane. Impressed, he did so and was taken to the other side and stepped off onto the walkway above. Malik glanced up at him.

"You see anything?" he asked.

"Just another doorway," Riker shrugged.

"How about any people?"

"There's a dead guy down the corridor, but that's it."

Malik cursed. "No one quite alive then."

"Not so far."

He pushed the button again, Kargoth mounting the platform and travelling over to where Riker stood via the lift. Malik repeated the action again and joined them moments later. He walked into the corridor and held his translator over the dead body, but this one hadn't left a message. The three of them opened the door and walked into the first main room of ISV-Kran, hopefully to find some survivors who would help them escape the clutches of Na Pali back home.


	15. 15 ISVKran Deck 4

**Chapter 15 – ISV-Kran; Deck 4**

Kargoth first stepped through the door into ISV-Kran, stopping to take in her surroundings momentarily. The inside was dark and dusty, the metal floor stained with blood and the metal crates baring the Inuit Corporation logo upturned. After taking the first step into the Russian ship she felt rather at home, even as Malik and Riker came in. Even though her mind still told her not to feel so secure just yet. The situation of ISV-Kran was currently unknown and there was no saying the ship was safe from Skaarj invaders.

Malik stepped further into the room, looking about the bodies which were scattered across the floor. His eyes trailed passed a man who had lost his head and eventually fell on two. The first was sprawled out on the floor with his face down and the second next to him was slumped up against the wall. Malik went over to investigate, holding the translator over the body.

"Officer Ivan Romanov," he read aloud. "The current state of ISV-Kran so far is critical. The security team has evacuated everyone back to Decks 3 and 2 to protect the Gold Cores. It is vital that we do not let the Skaarj get to Deck 1."

"How far did they get in?" Riker asked.

"All over the ship," cut in a harsh voice.

Malik looked over to the body slumped against the wall and noticed that this man was not dead at all. The Russians moved to sit up against the wall, leaning forwards slightly and running his hands down his unshaven face. He looked a little unwell, but none of his injuries appeared to be life threatening. Given the size of ISV-Kran, that gave a good signal for other crew members.

"Kargoth, what do you make of this guy?" Malik asked.

She walked over and observed the Russian critically.

"Very well hung," she noted.

"Oh for god's sake!" Malik replied. "I meant health wise."

"I'd better inspect him."

"Just don't inspect every inch of him too closely; you might kill him!"

"I do know what I'm doing Malik."

The Russian glanced at her. "You are medical technician?"

"Not quite."

"Medical packs are over there. The Skaarj left them behind when they realised that they are not compatible with them. Their physiology must be somewhat different than ours. They didn't know I was still alive so they left me here. I heeled well enough over night to stay alive."

"Your English is very good."

"I learnt it in England, along with most of the crew."

"And those who didn't?"

"They couldn't speak English."

Kargoth crossed the deck to get to the medical packs while Riker sat down besides Malik and the Russian. Malik put away the Universal Translator and sat back to talk to the Russian, hearing Kargoth rummaging around trying to find a medical kit that contained all the parts.

"Where did you get that translator?" the Russian asked.

"A dead guard at the Vortex Rikers," Malik replied.

"So you are from the Vortex Rikers. We located your ship."

"Our navigators found one of your transmissions."

"Are you security?"

Malik shook his head. "We're prisoners; our ship was a prison transport. We were on our way to the prison planet when our ship got knocked out of the shipping lane and onto this rock. We've escaped from the ship alive when most others failed and we've been through hell to get this far!"

"Just don't kill me! It was hard staying alive."

"Don't worry; you have nothing to fear from us."

"Except maybe Kargoth," Riker shrugged.

"What did she do?"

"Murder sluts and men that looked at her."

The Russian laughed. "Who wouldn't murder a slut?"

"Who are you?" Malik asked.

"Security Officer Miroslav Kuznetsov," the Russian replied.

"Well Miroslav, what actually happened here?"

"We thought we could contact your Vortex Rikers without getting detected by the Skaarj, but they soon became interested in us. They infiltrated Deck 4, where we are now, and took our cargo, wiping out most of our security team. They've carried on to Deck 3 and I'm not sure how far they've managed to get into ISV-Kran since then. No more Skaarj have come back here to bother me, but I think they've positioned guards above to secure Deck 3."

"Is there anyone left alive on your ship?"

"If so, they'll beck on Deck 1, possibly even Deck 2."

"Alright, how can we get there?"

"A security lock has been activated. You'll need to get back there from above and get to the lock down panel. That'll give you access to the rest of Deck 4 to get to Deck 3 and find the rest of the crew."

Miroslav indicated the grill behind Malik.

"It's just through there," he explained.

"Right," Malik replied.

"There's been a leakage; it's toxic."

"Why do ships always leak toxic stuff when they break?" Riker asked.

"They just do. It's reactor fluid mostly, perhaps coolant stuff."

Kargoth came over with a full medical kit and sat down on the other side of Miroslav. She took out one of the portable scanners and checked him over, Riker peering over with interest to see how it worked.

"You Russians have a thing for good technology," he noted.

"Oh yes," Miroslav replied. "Just a poor safety record."

"At least you don't have cockroaches on your ship."

"I don't know of any ships that do."

"The Vortex Rikers did, but she was Yankee built."

"Are you not American then?"

"No! Canadian and dead proud!"

"He gets offended if you call him a Yank," Kargoth noted. "That's Riker by the way, a so-called professional arsonist. I'm Kargoth from England with a reputation as being a murderer of deceitful and underdressed women. And that guy over there with the prickly beard is Malik from Turkey, who has killed one or two people and is a known anti-religious activist."

"Miroslav; ISV-Kran Russian security."

"Nice introduction," Malik commented.

"No point in not knowing each other," Kargoth shrugged.

"Anyway, what's wrong with him?"

"Nothing much really. No broken bones, no torn ligaments, no twisted body parts, no internal bleeding; no serious injuries. These scanner things are great! It tells you everything you need to know about a patient's current anatomical state and more. According to this scan Miroslav, you are very healthy and need only a few minor injuries treating and perhaps a bit of love and care before you're back on your feet. Nothing I cannot treat."

"I'm glad to hear it," Miroslav replied.

"It also indicated you're a man… and my, what a man! This little gadget says you have higher end testosterone levels and a superbly naturally built physical structure; that explains how well developed your…"

"Oh give me that!" Malik snapped.

He snatched the medical scanner off her and continued to scan Miroslav, who was now looking at Kargoth with interest.

"God, you're right!" Malik laughed.

"I told you that scanner thing is good!" Kargoth replied.

"I thought you were making that last part up."

"No she's right," Miroslav grumbled. "I never found it difficult to build muscle tone or take up regular physical activities such as running, swimming and weight lifting. I did all those things whilst training for ISV-Kran security duty; the Inuit Corporation of Russia, Siberia and the Arctic likes to keep a good fitness regime for its officers."

"Why the need for such security?" Riker asked.

"We were passing a strange planet, who knows what could have happened if we crash landed. We needed to prepare for the worst, so they trained up the security team. All that hard work really paid off in the end."

Kargoth observed his muscular form.

"Clearly," she commented.

"How long will I take to treat?" he asked.

"Not long I imagine; the scanner said very little needs done. And you're a tough bloke by the looks of things, so you don't really need the love and care. Just the cream and the bandages for you. For some reason I seemed to get lumbered with the job of medical duty; but I'd like the time to talk to you."

"That feeling's mutual."

They both exchanged a smile, Malik rolling his eyes skyward and getting to his feet. Before her days aboard the Vortex Rikers, she'd have killed any man who dared to show an interest in her like Miroslav clearly was. Now she was willing to let her emotions develop and actually take an interest in someone herself. How landing and travelling through a strange and hostile new planet could change murderous ways.

"I'll go and deactivate that security lock out," Malik stated.

"Can you remember where it is?" Miroslav asked.

"Yeah; find a vent into the leaking toxic room."

"Good luck and watch out for the Skaarj."

"Don't worry! We're becoming experts."

Riker also got to his feet and followed Malik over to the lift, leaving Kargoth alone with Miroslav. The two of them watched as the lift ascended to the corridors above, carrying Riker and Malik with it. Armed with the Flak Cannon and Bio Rifle between them, they disappeared from view into the corridor.

"They'll be fine," Kargoth assured Miroslav.

"They seem to know what they're doing," he replied.

"You know, I've never met a Russian before."

"Well, now you have the privilege of escaping a hostile planet with one."

Kargoth laughed. "Sounds very… romantic."

"Sounds dangerous to me."

"Hmm, they mean the same right?"

Further up into the corridors of ISV-Kran, Malik and Riker had come across the door which must have led to the rest of the ship. As Miroslav had said, it had been locked out by the security commands. Once they tried to get through the door, an alert siren was triggered a red warning lights came on along the floor level. From the ceiling above them a Skaarj jumped down and began its attack, hovering around on its feet and firing bolts of light at them. Riker crouched low on the ground, rolled forwards and jumped up in front of the Skaarj, reducing it to gibs it instantly with the Flak Cannon.

"Nice shot," Malik noted. "I'm sure Kargoth would be complimenting you."

"This Flak Cannon is superb!" Riker replied.

"You owe thanks to that Nali who fetched it for you then."

"Hmm, I wonder if it's still alive?"

They heard a Skaarj move somewhere down the corridor, seeing its tail flick around the corner. Cursing, Riker and Malik ran after it but it had already disappeared out of sight; it must have been after Kargoth and Miroslav. Sure enough, after hearing Miroslav's colourful Russian language, they heard the sound of Kargoth firing two 8-balls followed by Skaarj body bits bouncing off the walls.

"I thought you two up there were dealing with these!" her voice shouted up.

"Sorry!" Malik called back.

Four more Skaarj climbed down from the air vents one after the other, each being met with resistance from the two prisoners' weapons. Eventually, the final Skaarj was shot backwards and it fell onto a grate on the floor, knocking it inwards. The creature fell down into the vent below, Riker and Malik peering down it to watch the Skaarj get shredded as it fell through the fan.

Using the far side of the vent, the two of them gradually lowered themselves down onto a walk way and into the ducts beyond. Riker helped down Malik, who was considerably shorter then himself and turned into the dark air conditioning shafts. Malik saw a dead Skaarj Warrior on the floor lying next to a strange sort of alien weapon. He picked it up, scanning it with the Translator.

"Razor Jack," he read aloud. "Native Skaarj weapon."

"Well, our Russian friend could do with a decent weapon," Riker noted.

"Good point. I'll take it for safe keeping."

They wondered along to the end of the vent and travelled further up on a lift which took them to a level above the passageways. They avoided holes in the walls where grates had been knocked out by the Skaarj, Riker having to bend down to avoid having his head chopped off by the fans above. After making their way through the winding vents of the air conditioning shafts, they came to a gap above the room which Miroslav had mentioned. Just below them was a walkway with the security lock out panel on it and at the base of the room was a pit filled with the toxic green coolant.

"We don't want to go swimming this time mate," Malik commented.

"Unless you want Kargoth putting Germoline on your acid burns," Riker added.

"I leave that pleasure for Miroslav's enjoyment, thanks very much!"

Riker laughed as his Turkish friend took a leap of faith off the edge, grabbing onto the catwalk with his leather glove protected hands. He hoisted himself up onto the walkway, massaging his stomach and thinking he could have done with losing a few pounds before coming on this trip. He approached the lock out panel and pushed the button, deactivating the security lock out.

Riker jumped to the level below, managing to break his fall but acquired a lovely bruise to his left leg. Malik also lowered himself down to the ground level, narrowly missing the acid pit and having to fall over onto the metal floor to prevent landing in the green fluid. He got to his feet, helping Riker to his. They approached the grates, lowered themselves into it and rejoined Kargoth and Miroslav on the other side.

"Ah, you made it!" Miroslav proclaimed.

"Security lock out overridden," Riker stated.

"How are you mending?" Malik asked.

"With Kargoth's skilled hands, very well," the Russian replied.

"Skilled hands eh? I hate to think."

Kargoth glared slightly, but Malik did notice a slight pink tinge rising to her face. He decided not to comment, even though he found it rather amusing she was actually capable of blushing. He thought that as much as she knew it, she'd only give him a hard punch for pointing out, especially in front of Miroslav who seemed not to notice.

"You'd better take us to the rest of your fine ship," Malik told the Russian.

"Our best hope is to get to Deck 3 and 2 to the Gold Containment Cores and get the engines back online," Miroslav explained. "Then we can head up to the science labs and the teleporters on Deck 1."

"Teleporters?"

"Yeah, they'll get us out of ISV-Kran."

"Get us out? But can we not escape in this ship?"

"Not really; not any more. Too many members of the crew are dead to be able to operate the ship properly. And besides, ISV-Kran is embedded into a cliff face she crashed into and there's no way she'll have the power to break free. I'm sorry, but we'll need to find another way to escape. That's what my senior officers were trying to find out; if we find them, we'll find the answers."

Malik sighed. "To Deck 3 then."

"We will get home, you know."

"I hope so, I really do."

"What about the Vortex Rikers? Is she salvageable?"

"No; same as this. She's stuck in solid rock!"

"Then we'll have to hijack a Skaarj ship or something."

"We'll we're not going to do that hanging around here talking about things that are impossible to happen!" Kargoth cut in. "I say we pursue to the other decks of this fine, but defeated, vessel and find Miroslav's superior officers. If they've found another way off this rock, then we need to be a part of it."

Putting the idea of safely making it back to Earth aboard ISV-Kran, the four of them travelled up to the corridors via the lift. They skirted around the grate in the floor and approached the door, which was now open. Before they continued on, Malik stopped Miroslav and handed him the Skaarj weapon.

"You could do with a good weapon," he noted.

"Hmm, I've seen the Skaarj Troopers use these," Miroslav explained.

"It saves you only relying on Kargoth's protection with the 8-ball."

"I hate not being defenceless. The Skaarj took all our weapons."

Miroslav took the Razor Jack and loaded it with some of the thin, razor sharp disks which fitted into it. It looked like a strange looking weapon, and the blades certainly looked as if they'd decapitate someone with one single, well coordinated shot. Perhaps it would work to their advantage if Miroslav had a perfect aim to rival Kargoth's. As a trained security officer, it seemed likely.

They walked through the door into the depths of Deck 4, looking around and spying some more upturned crates. Some empty medical kits had been strewn across the floor and Miroslav approached one of the bodies which was hung over the edge of one of the crates.

"I knew this man," he noted.

"Who was he?" Kargoth asked.

"Piotr Onsov; far too small for a security officer. He must have had a terrible time up against those Skaarj Warriors. He was under my unit, along with Marratov and the others. I was too badly hurt to protect the rest of them."

Kargoth laid a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not your fault," she told him.

"If only I'd fought a little harder."

"You did the best you could, I'm certain of that."

She leaned in closer to him but Malik cleared his throat, staring at them both critically, indicating into another room with his bio rifle. Kargoth reduced her proximity to Miroslav and they turned to follow Riker and Malik into the next room. They wondered in, following the lead of Miroslav as they walked around stacks of crates to a doorway which was blocked with two bars coloured with red and black hazard stripes.

"I knew they'd do that," Miroslav growled.

"I take it that's the entrance to Deck 3?" Malik asked.

"Too damn right it is; we'll need to get at it from up there."

Miroslav pointed to a loft space above the cargo room as he led them away from the barred door. He pushed a button on the wall which brought down a lift to their feet, stepping aside to permit the others first. The lift took them up to a small control room above where a Skaarj was busy fiddling with one of the controls.

"You leave my ship alone!" Miroslav snarled.

He quickly took aim with the Razor Jack a fired a single blade, hacking the Skaarj's head off before it even time to turn round. Miroslav smirked slightly and crossed the room, leaving the others stunned at his perfect aim. Kargoth was also impressed, and Malik guessed that only added another element of attraction besides the Russian's rough appearance and muscular form.

Miroslav fiddled around with the controls on the wall and outside, a ramp extended from the loft area and angled itself down to the floor to rest. He moved back and walked onto the lift, indicating for the others to follow. Once they were all safely on the lift, he pushed the button and brought it back down to ground level.

"I notice that GES Bio-Rifle of yours is a little primitive," Miroslav told Malik.

"Really? I got it from that Terraniux complex," Malik replied.

"Is that on your side of the trench?"

"It was, yes."

"Then I have no idea where it is; we had trouble sending one man up there; Pavel Marratov. He never came back though. One of the Skaarj Troopers was using one like that and it splashed back everywhere, killing him when the sludge exploded. Here, I'll get you it. We modified it."

Miroslav took the Bio-Rifle out of Malik's hand and disappeared into another room with it. After several moments of rummaging around, and the sound of harsh Russian cursing after a metallic clash, the security man returned with a rifle that looked exactly the same as the old one. He handed it back to Malik, who looked slightly confused by this.

"It looks exactly the same!" he observed.

"I know, but it's not," Miroslav explained. "No splash back."

"What do you mean by that exactly?"

"Because the weapon was a little underpowered, if in too closer combat with an enemy who knew you carried that weapon, firing a blob of that Tarydium sludge would cause it not only to stick to the enemy, but splash back and stick to you. It would kill you as well. This one has reduced the splash back of the sludge."

"How did you do that exactly?"

"No idea, I'm no engineer! They did that for us."

Lead by Miroslav again, the four of them ascended up the ramp and into the loft area above the cargo room. There was a panel at the far end of the room with two bars either side of it containing a strange kind of yellow light. Malik gathered this was just for show rather than some strange kind of super technical Russian gadget. However, as Miroslav approached the console and deactivated the emergency locks, the door shut behind them and locked them into the room.

"Great," he grumbled. "Now what?"

A Skaarj jumping down from the darkness above soon answered that question for him. Malik instantly tried out his new and improved GES Bio-Rifle with Anti-Splash Back Modifications, noticing the difference instantly. The large, slow moving globule of green fluid stuck to the Skaarj, the small chunks flying off only travelling far enough for the Skaarj to pick them up again with its arms and feet. As the blob of sludge exploded, so did the Skaarj Warrior.

"I'm impressed with your engineers!" Malik complimented.

"If we find them alive, you can tell them," Miroslav replied.

One after the other, three more Skaarj came to join them, but they weren't very good company. They were becoming irritated as the four humans began to unblock their security and travel further into the ship. They were proud of the capture of ISV-Kran and they weren't prepared to give it up without a fight. However, as much as they were capable, they were no match for four humans with far superior weaponry, even though their skill was not so great.

Eventually, the Skaarj stopped their attack and the door was opened, allowing them to descend the ramp once again into the cargo hold. Miroslav led them back to the doorway which, happily, was no longer blocked with the emergency bars. Miroslav asked them to step back slightly as they approached a large door. He pushed the button and it slowly began to open, grinding against the mechanism on the floor.

"Have you ever been on a Russian ship before?" Miroslav asked.

"Not prior to this one, no," Malik replied.

"Do you all like big vessels?"

"We've only really been aboard the Vortex Rikers."

"Then I imagine ISV-Kran will be quite to your liking."

"You spent most of your time here?" Kargoth asked.

"Most of it. I was stationed on ISV-Novak for some time before ISV-Kran."

"What was ISV-Novak like?"

He shrugged. "A smaller version of this really."

As the doors slid fully open, they approached another set, Miroslav opening these up and revealing the rest of the massive Russian ship.


	16. 16 ISVKran Decks 3 and 2

**Chapter 16 - ISV-Kran; Decks 3 and 2**

With Miroslav in the lead with the Razor Jack, the four of them entered the first lower level of Deck 3. The first thing they noticed about this room was the huge door on the wall to their right which must have hidden a large room. Miroslav led them towards a small door on the wall opposite, pushing the button and opening it.

"What do we need to do?" Malik asked.

"Get into the Dock," Miroslav replied.

"What do we need to do there? Bring another ship in?"

He shook his head. "Get to another override panel."

"How many are there?"

"Many; we need to be perfectly intruder proof."

"The Skaarj didn't seem to have much trouble," Riker noted.

"Indeed, that's the problem! Now they've locked us out of our own ship!"

"That's irony for you."

Miroslav brought down a lift and waited until everyone had stepped on it before taking them up to the top. There they were met by a Skaarj, Miroslav getting caught off guard and aiming a bad shot at the creature's leg, Fortunately, it sliced straight through the bone and hacked them limb off, bringing the Skaarj down to the floor. Riker was then able to finish it off with his Flak Cannon.

"That was like one of my shots," Riker commented. "Bad aim, but good!"

"I like to think that we Russians have luck on our side," Miroslav replied.

"So you're ship gets invaded," Kargoth shrugged.

"Hmm, that part didn't quite work out, did it?"

She smiled at him. "It'd be too easy for you if it worked every time."

The four of them, lead by Miroslav, opened up another small door onto the catwalk above the room they were in before. He guided them all the way around, stopping to briefly check two Russian bodies in any hope for life signs. Unfortunately his efforts seemed to be in vein. Kargoth sympathised with him; even though he was powerless to have protected his security team, he felt responsible. It wasn't a good position to be in, but even if they were alive, they wouldn't have blamed him.

He pushed the button on the control panel and the four huge doors at the front of the bay opened up to reveal the Dock. They took the quick route and jumped down from above, heading in through the doors before the shut again. It was a tall, circular room with a platform high above. Miroslav led them over to the far end and allowed the three prisoners to mount a lift before doing so himself and activating it. The lift sped quickly to the top and they exited onto the platform.

Fortunately there was nothing here to bother them; they didn't fancy tripping over something and falling to their doom off the edge of the platform. Miroslav approached a console and activated it, five platforms extending out from tubes in the wall and coming to rest at the base of the platform. From one of the, a Skaarj Warrior came down to meet them, lunging forwards at Miroslav. The Russian jumped back, but fell under the Skaarj's weight, picking up the Razor Jack quickly. He aimed it at the Skaarj's neck and sliced its head off before it was able to jab him in the jugular with its blades. Miroslav pushed the body away and got to his feet, Kargoth rushing to his side.

"Bloody thing," the Russian growled.

"Are you alright?" Kargoth asked, concerned.

"Of course; never better."

She moved back from him slightly as he dusted himself down and turned towards the Docking tubes. He counted along to the fourth one and walked up a little way before remembering something and turning back.

"Malik, take a look at that panel," he noted.

He pointed to the console on the pillar.

"What for?" Malik asked.

"Check if the engineers left anything," Miroslav replied.

Malik approached the panel and rose and finger to scroll down through it, but Miroslav stopped him.

"With the translator," he explained. "Unless you can read Russian."

"Of course I can't!" Malik laughed.

Miroslav left momentarily, climbing into the Docking tube and reaching a panel at the far end. He keyed in his password for the override, hearing the computer's affirmative answering beep in response to his request. He returned to Malik and the others where they had finished reading the console.

"What does it say?" he asked.

"They've retreated to Deck 1," Malik replied. "They've set up a containment field around the bridge so that no one can get in. I imagine all we need to do is get to Deck 1 and find the rest of the crew."

"I was hoping they'd do that."

"Will they let us in?" Riker asked.

"My security code will do the trick."

"And if the Skaarj have obtained these codes?"

"Hmm, then we'll just have to knock."

"How do we get to Deck 1?" Kargoth asked.

"The Primary Turbo Lift of course! What else?"

"But isn't the power offline?"

Miroslav thought about that. "I'm not entirely sure. I'll have to get to the lift and check if it's working. It's not the question of having power; it's having enough of it to work the lift. Generally it needs engine power, and those are offline for sure. However, the main generator might have enough juice to operate one of the lifts. We'll have to see."

Miroslav led them back towards the lift and got them all on it before pushing the button to return to the lower level of the Dock. It took them down there quickly and Miroslav took a jog to other side of the room and opened the main doors, Kargoth having to marvel at the smooth way he moved. She shuddered inwardly. What was wrong with her? She'd never had thoughts like this before. The mysterious Russian security guard must be a very special man to be capable of igniting such feelings.

They returned to the main deck and made their way back to the catwalk above, travelling down to the doors at the far end near the door control panel. There were two doors, and it looked like Miroslav wanted to choose the furthest for what ever reason. It was his ship, so he ought to know it well. On the way through the doors, the passed by a door labelled as 'Coolant Control', but Miroslav didn't seem particular interested in this part of the ship.

They soon arrived at something he was interested in; a door labelled 'Primary Turbo Lift'. They walked through the sliding doors and into the room which had a large number on the wall '3'. This must have been Deck 3. Miroslav approached the console next to one of the lifts and pushed a button.

"Turbo Lift requires full engine power," the computer replied.

"Blast!" Miroslav cursed.

"I take it we need to get the engines back on line," Malik noted.

"We'll need to get to the Containment Field Generator. From there we'll need to destroy the Gold Containment Cores and then pursue to the main engines room to get back power to the Turbo Lifts."

"Destroy the Gold Cores?"

"It's an emergency procedure to get engine power back."

"That doesn't really sound that logical," Kargoth commented.

"If our engineers are alive on Deck 1, get them to explain it to you."

Clearly it had irritated Miroslav somewhat that he'd need to get the engines back online, but it soon passed. But Kargoth suspected his irritation was more likely an urgent need to make sure his crew was alive. There was no saying they would be, but he was desperate to know what had happened. He had already worked out there wasn't much hope for his security team, and he needed to hang onto the thought that some of the crew members would be left alive.

They turned back and left the Turbo Lift room, heading to find the next place Miroslav needed to reach. They went passed a small lift labelled 'Engine Control Room' and found another large door labelled 'Containment Field Generator'. They opened the doors and were attacked by a Skaarj Warrior. Kargoth fired an 8-ball at it and sent it flying back into the corridor. It fell onto a lower floor which was full of acid and eventually burnt to death, falling face down and making a small splash. Miroslav cursed and turned to the wall mounted console.

"This is all we need," he groaned.

"Something else wrong?" Malik asked.

Riker shrugged. "The ship's broken; it's leaking again!"

"Engine coolant fluids. We'll need to activate the coolant pumps to clear the contamination out of the floor. We'll have to head back again; you all saw the room labelled 'Coolant Control' right?"

Kargoth nodded. "Just before the Turbo Lifts."

"That's right; we'll have to head back that way."

The four of them retreated back through the door and headed back the way they came, passing all the familiar doors before arriving back at the Coolant Control. Miroslav punched the button and stepped through the door, even standing back to help Kargoth step over. Malik rolled his eyes skyward, but decided not to comment. It was nothing to do with him and in a way, it was a good thing. He only hoped that no one ended up getting killed before they found help.

Miroslav entered the coolant control room first and Malik heard his faint groan of displeasure. On entry, he saw the reason why. The floor of the room was littered with the dead bodies of engineers wearing the ISV-Kran uniform. Miroslav ducked under the big pipe to the other side where the door controls were, his head hanging as he pushed the doors open. Malik sighed; their Russian friend was having a terrible time.

They followed him through the door, fending off the Skaarj that jumped into to attack them. Miroslav wondered off and activated the coolant pump, turning round and leading them over to the doors on the other side of the room. After killing a second Skaarj was standing guard, no doubt trying to block their pursuit to the Containment Field Generator, Miroslav crossed the room to activate the coolant filter. Once all that had been done with no complications, they left the room and headed back towards the room where the Gold Cores were.

"Will that have cleared the problem?" Kargoth asked.

"Most certainly," Miroslav replied. "It'll have pumped away the coolant leak."

"You're ship seems to be in a bit of a state."

"After the crash, we knew we'd have trouble getting systems back on line again. Being such a large vessel, ISV-Kran was almost fated to take years to repair and get airborne again. The Skaarj invasion and their destroying of the crew didn't really add any pluses to the matter."

"I saw how much you were affected by the deaths of your comrades."

"I knew all the men on this ship. Most had families back on Earth."

Kargoth hesitated slightly. "Did you?"

"I had relatives of course; only though. I've always been a little lonely on that side of things. I went straight into the army to do training, but thankfully, I was whisked off for security duty on the Russian star ships. That's all I really concentrated on to be honest; I never had time for anything else."

"I've never felt close to human life."

Miroslav glanced at her slightly.

"I'm a murderer, Miroslav," she noted.

"Any person's capable of change, you know," Miroslav replied.

"I used to be able to take a person's life away from them; it never bothered me when I watched the life disappear from the eyes. An old enemy of mine I dispensed of; I was doing engineering, and she was doing hairdressing, or something crap. She was your typical thick arsed girl; died blonde hair, certain plastic body parts, miniskirts, pink and too much makeup. Just to look at her was to let go of your breakfast. I enjoyed every moment I made her scream in agony; I built an electric circuit especially for her. Kept turning up the voltage until her heart failed. That was the one that put me away on the Vortex Rikers for life; the one that made me a dangerous individual.

"I often fought with the other prisoners; won most of them, backed out of a few. But now our ship has crashed, I have grown to respect Riker and Malik whom I've travelled with since the beginning. You make your friends on prison ships and you also make your enemies. But we're all alike now. I look around and see the dead bodies of your crew mates, and I do not feel that same thrill for murder anymore. Yeah, I'd possibly trip a slut over in front of a bus or something, but all those innocent men I killed simply because they looked at me. That is where I feel regrets. And this is where I'll not make those same mistakes again."

She took Miroslav's hand.

"You are the first human life I've not wanted to take."

He paused slightly. "I feel I should take that well?" he queried.

"I hope so. I meant it that way."

"I do not dislike you because you were a criminal."

She smiled. "Were a criminal. Yes, you're quite right."

"This event would change anyone, I believe. Even you."

He released her hand, gently removing the 8-ball launcher from off her shoulder and handing it to her. She took it and hoisted it up into a comfortable position on her arm, for the first time really making complete eye contact with Miroslav.

"If we all get through this," he noted. "I'll ask you something."

She smirked a little. "I think I can guess."

"But you'll have to wait."

As they'd talked, they joined Riker and Malik at the doors to the Containment Field Generator, who had wondered off ahead of them slightly. They nodded to him and they crossed the now coolant free corridor to make their way into the room and destroy the Gold Containment Cores. They entered, Miroslav leading the way towards a nearby control console which was guarded by a Skaarj trying to get access to some of the functions. Riker shredded it with a single shot from his Flak Cannon, allowing their Russian escort over to the panel.

"The Gold Cores have become unstable due to pressure," Miroslav explained. "In an emergency situation like we have here, the engine gets shut down to minimal operative power and a containment field gets put around it. This is to protect it and to protect the crew."

"So how do we get to engineering?" Malik asked.

"We'll have to shut down the Containment Field."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Not in this case; we need to get the engines back on line. The Containment field is there to be shut down once the levels in engineering are safe. They are as far as I can tell, but the Gold Cores have become unstable so we cannot shut down the containment field. We'll have to destroy the Gold Cores."

"You're assuming engineering is safe?"

"If it wasn't, I'm sure the computers would tell me."

"So what are they telling you?" Riker asked.

"What I told you! To destroy the Gold Cores."

Miroslav left the console alone, leading the three of them over a bridge across the lower decks of the Containment Field Generator. At the other side, they went through a door and brought up a turbo lift, Miroslav letting the prisoners get on before himself. They travelled down to the second level, getting off and walking around the small generator in the centre. A small bolt of bright blue electric energy was being fed across a tube; it looked rather dangerous and it was unprotected.

They got off the catwalk and into a short corridor, meeting a Skaarj at the other end. Kargoth finished it off with her rocket launcher and the three of them followed Miroslav down to a control panel at the end. Below their feet on the platform was another level, and further below that a ground level which was swimming with the coolant.

"There's been another coolant leak," he noted.

"Did you bolt the ship up tightly enough?" Riker questioned.

"Hmm, I often wonder! Thankfully it's below deck; we're safe from it up here."

Miroslav left that console and turned left, heading towards a device at the end which must have been one of the Gold Cores. It was a long strand of gold glowing energy protected inside a blue force field. Miroslav turned round behind it and deactivated the force field, backing off to where the others were standing.

"I'd crouch down for support," he instructed.

They did as he said and knelt down, Miroslav doing the same and taking out his small dispersion pistol. He took aim and fired one, well placed shot at the Gold Core. It exploded on contact with the blue dispersion bolt and the blast shook the area somewhat, small fragments of dust falling from the ceiling. Miroslav got to his feet and led them around to the other area right of the corridor to destroy the second Gold Core. Once that had been destroyed, he led them back to the lift.

"Now let's hope engineering is safe," Kargoth noted.

"The computer didn't so say," Miroslav replied.

"I thought Russians were clever enough not to always trust computers."

Miroslav smirked. "The ISV-Kran computers are very sophisticated."

"Even so, doesn't that mean its malfunctions are also more sophisticated?"

"Trust me, if the computer says engineering's safe, then it is."

"Now you I have no trouble in trusting."

"How do you know, you've only just met me?"

She observed him for a moment. "You have a trustworthy face."

She shrugged, standing back to let Miroslav activate the lift controls to take them back up the area above. They dismounted from the lift and exited the Containment Field Generator control room. It was only a short walk away down the corridor to the small lift shaft labelled 'Engine Control Room'. They mounted the lift into engineering and entered the room, noticing the three Skaarj in there; two Troopers and a Warrior. The four of them decided to split them up between them. Riker tackled one of Troopers with his Flak Cannon; Malik the other Trooper with the Bio-Rifle and Kargoth took on the Warrior with her 8-ball and Miroslav with his Razor Jack. As soon as the Skaarj corpses joined those of the ISV-Kran crew members, Miroslav checked some of the consoles.

"That's interesting," he mumbled.

"What?" Malik asked.

"No one ever mentioned that…"

"What!"

"Sorry Malik. This computer has detected an alien ship in the upper atmosphere of the planet some time ago. Apparently it had landed somewhere far North in the planet during an electric storm to try and mask its sensor readings. Fortunately it wasn't enough to fool ISV-Kran."

"A Skaarj ship do you think?"

"That's what I'm guessing."

Miroslav approached the console at the far side of the room, checking up on the current state of his ship.

"Engine power's at 73. Hmm, not quite enough for the Turbo Lifts," he explained. "There's been a security field raised around Deck 1 to keep the intruders back and there's a hull breach in the observation lounge. Yes, that would have been one of the weak points in a crash landing."

"I thought the engines were offline?"

"They are; but they still have power and enough to bring them online to supply the power we need to the Turbo Lifts."

"Where are the engine controls?"

"Up there in the decks above."

They approached one of the lifts, Miroslav and the others being taken up to the decks above.

"A word of cautions though," he began. "When we get the engines back online, don't go anywhere near the engine core. It'll kill you."

Kargoth shrugged. "We'd better remember that then!"

They travelled up the lift to the control room above the sub-level engineering deck, Miroslav leading the way. He left the three prisoners to take out the Skaarj while he scrolled through the logs made at the scanning station, absently listening to the sound of gunfire while he worked. Eventually he heard the sound of Skaarj's body parts exploding at the impact of a rocket when he found something interesting.

"Scanners have recognised the ship on the surface," Miroslav stated.

"Do they say what it is?" Malik asked.

"They think it could be a Skaarj vessel."

"Then it is there mother ship!" Kargoth exclaimed.

"So it would seem. They've also noticed something else which is a little unusual. They've picked up primitive structures built on the landscape, evidence of some kind of local population. I'm assuming the Skaarj aren't indigenous to this planet seeing as they appear to have come by space craft."

"The Nali!" Riker noted. "They must be the local population."

"What are they?"

"Four armed religious dudes."

"We've never seen any of those."

"I doubt they'd come anywhere near ISV-Kran!" Malik laughed.

"Hostile?"

"No, quite the opposite."

"Anyway, it's also picked up a more high tech settlement which is on a large platform of rock. Get this; it's being suspended in the upper atmosphere of the planet by an unknown force!"

"Perhaps we should try to go there."

"Wait! We need to get to Deck 1 first."

Miroslav backed away from the consoles and approached the controls for the engine cores, which were sitting on the deck waiting to be replaced. Kargoth noticed he flinched slightly as he saw the engineer's body slumped against the empty tube, but he got over it. He was beginning to come to terms with his losses. He activated both of the consoles, the two cores sliding back into place.

"That should have done the trick," he commented.

"Should?" Riker queried.

"Hey, I'm not an engineer!"

The three of them left the engineering control room, noticing now that the engines were on line. A blue tube of energy was now between the control boxes, and they must have been the things that were dangerous. They travelled back down on the lift and left the Engine Control Room, walking back along the corridors until they approached the door labelled 'Primary Turbo Lift'. They entered the room, Miroslav briefly checking the console.

"We now have enough power!" he proclaimed.

He activated the lift and the three of them stood on the Turbo Lift as it powered itself up. Quickly, it took them away from Deck 2 and up to Deck 1, locking in place and allowing them to dismount. They found a pair of Russian corpses slumped against the wall, one of them male and the other female. To Kargoth's surprise, Miroslav actually laughed. She shivered; it was a wonderfully deep sound.

"I knew these crewmen!" he explained.

"But what's so funny?" Kargoth asked.

"These two were in my security team; they'd been sent back to guard the engineers in their escape to Deck 1. Officers Alexei Molotov and Nadya Illyushina. They always volunteered to do jobs where they'd spend long hours together in tightly confined, dark corridors. I could guess why."

"Hmm, so can we," Malik smirked.

"Ah well, I can't complain too much."

He shared a brief smirk with Kargoth before he led the three of them over towards the door labelled as Deck 1. They walked through it and down the first corridor to the point where they'd hopefully find the rest of the crew alive.


	17. 17 ISVKran Deck 1

**Chapter 17 – ISV-Kran; Deck 1**

The corridors beyond were dark and dusty once more, but this time it looked nothing less than hostile. These upper corridors of ISV-Kran were not very inviting. Miroslav looked tense, and that wasn't a good sign. He, like the rest of them, was now beginning to lose hope that there were any survivors aboard ISV-Kran. He turned to the control console and read through it carefully.

"It's a log left by our Captain," Miroslav read. "Mikhail Leshrikov."

"What does he say?" Malik asked, fearing the worst.

"Apparently about 40 Skaarj managed to get their way into Deck 1 of ISV-Kran and some have found other ways into the science research labs passed the high voltage barrier. The last part doesn't sound very reassuring; he states that there are just too many of them and there's not enough ammo."

"Then we'll have to do the clean up job," Riker replied.

"I only hope Leshrikov and the rest got to safety."

"How do we get passed the high voltage barrier?" Kargoth asked.

"Switch it off from the three transformers. It can be reactivated from the other side too, so all we need to do is get access and block it again, just to make sure. We can't be too certain that something will get through."

"Did the Captain say how many Skaarj are left?"

"He said at least 20, but I imagine this was some time ago."

"There's less than that now right?"

"I imagine so."

"I hope so," Malik added.

Carefully, the four of them crossed the corridor into the first transformer room, entering it with their eyes watchful along the dark corridor. Kargoth spotted a movement and saw the Skaarj flick out from behind the crate. She and Malik took it on while Riker followed Miroslav into the transformed room. There were three pylons of electricity flowing through from bases into the roof, but they soon shot back into the ground and disappeared as Miroslav deactivated the transformed.

"Two more to go," Miroslav noted.

He and Riker returned to the other in the midst of a fire fight. Two Skaarj were attacking Kargoth and Malik from both sides, and these two seemed more superior to the other Warriors they'd come across. They were fighting aggressively, jumping from left to right and dodging the shots from Malik and Kargoth's weapons. Riker and Miroslav joined the fight, the accuracy from the Razor Jack soon coming into place and killing off the two Skaarj Lords.

"This way," Miroslav stated.

He pointed down the left corridor.

"To Transformer 2."

They remained grouped together for protection, heading along down the darkened corridors with the eyes open for Skaarj Lords. Two more ran at them from ahead. Malik cleaned off the first one with his GES Bio-Rifle, Kargoth taking command of the second. She fired an 8-ball at it and knocked it down another corridor. There was the sound of an electric pulse, followed by a gargling sound and a sizzling burning sound. The four of them turned the corner and saw a Skaarj lying dead at the foot of an electric barrier. Miroslav smiled.

"That did its work then," he affirmed.

"How high is that voltage?" Malik asked.

"A few thousand."

"Wonderful!"

This time Malik and Riker stood guard while Kargoth followed Miroslav into the second transformer room. She remained amazed by the impressive show of technology the Russian ship displayed, and she was almost disappointed when Miroslav took away the electric lights. However, the simple tensing of his arm muscle as he flicked the switch was enough to get over that disappointment. She hid her smirk again; she was starting to find this Russian man rather distracting.

The two of them rejoined Malik and Riker, cutting across the exit corridor and coming across the third transformer room. Kargoth and Riker stood guard as Malik protected Miroslav within the chamber, listening to the sound of 8-ball and flak cannon fire as two more Skaarj Lords emerged on the same. Once the third transformer was deactivated, Malik arrived on the scene to finish off the last Skaarj with his newly improved Bio-Rifle.

As they hoped for, the high voltage barrier had now gone and they have access into the science lab. In the centre of the room was a large room, which was labelled as the Science Research Laboratory. Inside that chamber were two, green glowing cylinders with strange particles inside them which almost seemed to pulse with life. They looked like some kind of strange, biogenic energy source.

"What's in there?" Kargoth asked.

"No idea," Miroslav shrugged. "Science stuff."

"Let me guess, you're not a scientist either."

"Quite right; that's why I trained in security."

"Where now?" Malik asked.

"We need to make our way to the bridge."

Miroslav took the lead once again and led them around the science laboratory to a doorway. They climbed up a small ramp and down into a shallow corridor, but they met with another force field, similar to the one which had protected the Gold Cores in the Containment Field Generator back on Deck 3.

"Great, the field's still up," Miroslav observed.

"I thought you said they'd let you in?" Riker asked.

"They would; this means they've not detected me yet."

"Then we'll have to deactivate it manually," Kargoth cut in.

"My exact move," Miroslav smiled. "The security override to the force field is stationed in the observation lounge of all places; by the way, that's so intruders cannot easily find it. We'll need to get into the Crew Berths area to find the observation deck, and if I'm not mistaken, the security route to that is inside the science lab. We'll have to go up there and get to it."

He indicated up a ramp to a catwalk.

"Kargoth, if you'd accompany me," Miroslav turned to her.

"Of course," she replied.

"We'll stand guard outside of that door then," Malik replied.

He and Riker split up from Kargoth and Miroslav, finding the doors to the Crew Berths which had been mentioned. Kargoth and Miroslav then continued on up the catwalk to gain entry into the science lab. Along the catwalk, they eventually came to the control for the science lab.

"Alright, don't touch it yet," Miroslav instructed. "Stay here."

He lowered himself down to the deck below; Kargoth glanced to Riker and Malik, who shrugged. Miroslav stood in front of the doors to the science lab and turned back to look up at Kargoth.

"This has to be done quickly," he explained. "Those little sludge things in the cylinders a dangerous if let loose from their captive state. They'll engulf you and completely suffocate you, or what ever they do. I do not want to have to go down there to open the doors and risk opening those cylinders."

"Good idea," Malik noted.

"I'm just going to dash in and push that button. Kargoth, once you've pressed that, jump down and run into the Crew Berths. With these security lock outs, there's not much time for a reason!"

"Understood," Kargoth replied.

"Open the doors."

Kargoth pushed the button on the control panel and quickly jumped down to the lower level. Miroslav ran around the outside, being careful not to slip into the area below occupied by the cylinders. He pushed the button, opening the doors to the Crew Berths and noting that the others had gone beyond. He ran out of the science labs having to squeeze through the doors quickly to prevent being locked in. He soon joined the others in the Crew Berths, the doors sliding shut behind him.

"Good, now then, let's continue," Miroslav stated.

"Those doors don't give you much time," Kargoth commented.

"What exactly are those sludgy things?" Riker asked.

"Oh, some weird and wonderful dangerous science experiment," Miroslav shrugged. "Now we're here Kargoth, do you feel you need to stock up on any more medical supplies for the journey onwards? I mean, just in case we need to teleport back outside and find an alternative route off this rock."

Kargoth nodded. "We're running a little low. You used up all the bandages."

"They'll be some in the crew quarter's here. One of them is a medical room."

Miroslav led them across the catwalk, down an off-section and in through a set of doors. Occupying the room were two Skaarj Troopers, each of them armed with a dispersion pistol. They exchanged fire for a while, each side taking turns to dodge the other's shots. Eventually, it was a clean shot from Riker's ASMD that destroyed the first Skaarj and a nice shot from Malik's Stinger.

Kargoth wondered around the room and collected some bandages, packing them all up into a bag she'd kept with her. Some of the pockets were also stuffed full of the collection of flares she'd gradually built up. Miroslav took these few moments to check through the records of the medical staff. It was a sorry sight; more than three quarters of the crew had perished during the invasion. His name was even on the list of dead crewmen. So someone had thought him to have been killed with the rest of his team; that needed to be amended. He altered the logs and dated it, then sighed and sat down on one of the bottom bunks, holding his head in his hands. It now seemed highly unlikely that any of the crew would be left at all. Could he be the last survivor of ISV-Kran? Kargoth eventually sat down besides him.

"I'm sorry," she said, simply.

"I guess there was nothing I could have done for any of them," he sighed.

"You were lying part unconscious on Deck 4, uncertain that you'd even make it through the night. How could you, in that state, manage to be responsible for what happened to the rest of the crew up here on Deck 1?"

"I guess that's a little impossible."

"You can't really be in two places at once."

"I'm a chief security officer; I am responsible for the safety of the crew."

"If they were all alive now, would they blame you for the losses?"

"My crew wouldn't, no. Actually, no one really can."

"Well then."

"That still doesn't remove the feeling of regret."

She put an arm across his shoulders. "It'll take time to get over it."

"I knew all these people; it'll take longer than you think."

"I've never really felt loss before; but I feel that if I were to lose any one of you, Riker or Malik that I'd feel loss. Perhaps now, we need you to make sure that we don't get into any trouble."

There conversation was interrupted by a large rumble from somewhere deep within the ship. From the crash landing, ISV-Kran was clearly beginning to feel the stress of the mountainside bearing upon her.

"I don't mean to break up your cosy little chat," Malik cut in. "But this ship's falling apart!"

"You're right," Miroslav sighed. "We need to leave her in peace."

"We must get to the bridge."

"Follow me."

Miroslav got to his feet and lead the three of them out of the medical room, walking along down the catwalk and through another door. They took one of the two lifts up to the walkway above, walking through another door and entering the observation deck. The situation was as bad as they thought. The rock face from outside was actually intruding through the ship's hull via the breach and it was slowly beginning to crush Deck 1 of ISV-Kran. They needed to get out.

Unfortunately, the area below had been flooded by some more engine coolant, but it appeared to act like harmless water. With Malik's help, Miroslav waded through the fluid to a grate on the floor at the other end, having to duck and shield their heads as some of the rock face began to collapse. They shifted the grate aside, hearing Kargoth and Riker fending off another Skaarj Trooper armed with a dispersion pistol.

"I should have picked up some scuba gear back there," Miroslav grumbled.

"There is some?" Malik asked.

"Yes, in one of the cabinets in medical."

Kargoth turned to face them. "Shall I go and get you one?"

"If you would."

She and Riker disappeared from the room, leaving a second Skaarj in the hands of Malik and Miroslav. It didn't take long to kill it, and its corpse was soon floating in the coolant along with its comrade.

"I could always activate it," Malik offered.

"You don't know my security codes," Miroslav replied.

"There is that of course."

"From here, we'll need to reach the teleporters."

"Do you think there's not much hope for your crew?"

"I'm beginning to doubt it. That medical log said that over three quarters of the crew had perished during the Skaarj infiltration of our ship. In the long run, I was very lucky to survive."

"Then take that with you mate."

Kargoth and Riker soon returned, Kargoth wading through the coolant to reach Miroslav with the scuba gear. She helped him hoist it onto his back, securing the straps over his arms and having to lengthen them slightly to fit his wide shoulders. Miroslav placed the mouth piece into his mouth and dived under the coolant, swimming down into the grate and reaching the console to key in his security codes. He resurfaced again moments later.

"Now we get to the bridge," he ordered.

He climbed out of the grate and they waded back across the coolant filled observation deck floor to the door, the ship giving way a little more. They jogged across the catwalk to reach the door back into the science lab, having to watch their balance as the ship continued to rumble under the pressure of this cliff face. Once they were back into the science lab, they found the two ramps leading to the bridge and were pleased to find out that the force field had been deactivated. The worst sight was that there were more dead bodies here. Clearly not all of the dead had been accounted for in the medical logs; more people had died than they realised.

Ignoring the dead bodies for now, they stepped onto the lift and ascended above into the bridge. Well, it looked before like a flight deck than a bridge, but it was the area where the ship would have been piloted and commanded. Miroslav approached one of the consoles, scrolling through the Captain's logs.

"It looks like some of the crew got out," he explained.

"To where exactly?" Malik asked.

"Where ever is on the other side of ISV-Kran."

"How did they get out?"

"And why?" Kargoth queried. "It's hostile out there."

"Yeah, but out there isn't being crushed!" Miroslav commented. "They got out through the teleporters beneath the bridge and they're trying to do what we're doing; get home. They realised a while ago that the ship was irreparable, so they abounded her and are trying to find the Skaarj Mother Ship."

"Find that!" Riker exclaimed. "Are they mad?"

"They could use it to get home."

"Perhaps we should try to get there too," Kargoth added.

"It maybe our only hope," Malik agreed.

Miroslav nodded, crossing around the side and pushing a button on a panel, the pilot's seat moving aside to reveal a space down below the bridge. The four of them lowered themselves down into a small basement type room which was empty except for a small platform at the far end.

"That's the teleporter," Miroslav indicated to it.

"How does it work?" Malik asked.

"It's all automatic."

"Do you really think we should go back out there?" Riker asked.

As if in answer to that, the ship shook once again and from deep within, they heard a sickening screeching sound followed by a crumble. ISV-Kran was dying, and they did not want to be around when she succumbed to the pressure.

"I think so yes," Kargoth noted.

"But we can repair the ship!" Riker shouted.

There was another rumble and Miroslav stepped in, shaking his head.

"No we can't," he began. "The ISV-Kran is doomed to spend the rest of her days here on Na Pali. She'll be a monument to how far the Russians have travelled, even if not quite successfully. There is no more future for her and there is nothing more for us to do here. My crew is out there somewhere, and we need to find them, or if not, we need to get back to Earth. That Mother Ship maybe our answer."

"There's not much time," Kargoth cut in. "I didn't like that crumbling sound!"

Not wasting any more time talking, they all stepped onto the transporter pad together, a cylinder of purple light coming down over them. Automatically, they felt the teleporter work and they soon lost sight of the walls of ISV-Kran before ending up outside again in the wilderness of Na Pali.


	18. 18 Spire Village

**Chapter 18 – Spire Village**

Night had now fallen on the wilderness of this alien planet. The stars had come out and they had found themselves teleported behind one of the Nali houses. Looking back, Miroslav saw the frontal hull and nose of ISV-Kran, a once great monument of Russian space travel. Her lights shined down at them, almost as if to bid them farewell and good luck on the quest to escape Na Pali.

"She's an impressive ship Miroslav," Malik noted.

"Something to be proud of," Kargoth added.

"We need to let her rest in peace now," Miroslav agreed. "Farewell ISV-Kran."

"We'd better explore this little village."

They turned back away from the sad, looming and desolate hull of the Russian star ship, facing the small Nali houses. It seemed a shame to leave ISV-Kran alone, but perhaps once Earth learnt of this planet, the Russians would come back with a bigger, stronger fleet and claim the old wreckage. Then they could give her the burial she deserved. The four of them moved around the house in front of them and came face to face with a Titan.

"Crikey!" Miroslav exclaimed. "That's one of those things in the Trench."

"I was wondering if we'd see any more of these," Kargoth noted.

"Did you kill the one in the Trench?"

"Oh yeah!"

It was long task killing the Titan, but they eventually brought it crashing down to the ground. Most weapons were useless against it save the 8-ball launcher. Most others only seemed to irritate a little. The area was now strewn with the boulders it had hurled at them, lying in smashed heaps in the earth. They walked into the centre of the village, which only consisted of four little houses and a torch bracket in the centre. Like most of the Nali settlements, it was quite pretty.

"These might just be those primitive structures your scanners picked up on the planet's surface," Malik stated. "They're all over the place; mixtures of high tech and primitive buildings, but I believe the high tech stuff is alien."

"Perhaps we should check some of these houses out," Kargoth suggested.

Now they were outside of ISV-Kran, they were back to alien languages and they needed the use of Malik's Universal Translator. Miroslav's Russian may have worked at the ship control consoles, but they wouldn't be any good with alien languages. One of the little houses they walked in had a long table at one end. Kargoth walked over instantly, slipping some more flares into her pocket. Malik followed her, opening the book to the last written page and activating the Translator.

"That thing reads any language?" Miroslav asked.

"It hasn't failed me yet," Malik replied. "Skaarj, Nali, the works!"

"Impressive."

"What does it say?" Kargoth asked.

"It says 'Our Sacred Sunspire, once a safe haven given to us by the Gods of Good Lore, has been corrupted by the Sky Demons. They have even taken over the safe Sky Haven.' That sounds familiar."

"Perhaps we should try to reach this Sunspire."

"Exactly what I was thinking."

Malik deactivated the Translator and slipped it back into his pocket. The four of them left the Nali house, and soon spotted a raised passage along a narrow gorge which had fire lit torches lining it. That seemed like a good place to start. They began the small hike up the hill, coming to another small cluster of houses where a Nali was sat outside one of them, simply minding its own business. They hadn't changed since before ISV-Kran; still as benevolent as ever.

They walked through an open wall which went down hill towards a small gate with a tower standing next to it. From the distance, they saw a Skaarj Trooper reading a small notice on the side of the gate, trying to get inside. Kargoth raised the 8-ball launcher and locked the alien onto the target, firing a single 8-ball. The four of them watched as the rocket followed a curved path through the air and slammed into the alien, squashing it into the wall. Some of the body parts exploded outwards, leaving only a bloody smear up the wall and a splodge on the ground.

"I love the way momentum works," Kargoth commented.

"I don't think the Skaarj did too much," Riker replied.

They walked down towards the gate tower were the Skaarj once stood, peering through the bars in the gate. One the other side was a long, wide platform made of rock which led up to a gigantic spire shaped object at the far end. Malik approached the wall which bore the scripture.

"Here we are," he noted. "This is the Sunspire."

"How do we get through that gate?" Riker asked.

Miroslav shrugged. "Pretty easy."

He reached up and unfastened the lock, pushing wide the iron doors with a creak. Malik slid the translator back into his belt and proceeded through the gate, Miroslav bringing up the rear and closing it behind them. Now what lay ahead of them was the long path up to the tower.


	19. 19 The Sunspire

**Chapter 19 – The Sunspire**

On the pathway ahead of them, Kargoth spotted a Skaarj Trooper. She stopped everyone from carrying on, kneeling down on the floor with the 8-ball gun resting on her knee. She took aim and fired a rocket roughly at the Skaarj. Although the slowing missile did not gather much momentum, it did succeed in knocking the Skaarj flying off the edge of the pathway into the lava below.

"I was hoping that might happen," Kargoth noted.

"Look how far down that goes!" Riker proclaimed.

"I wouldn't really want to fall down there."

"I think I can say the same for everyone here."

"We'll need to take care when crossing," Miroslav commented.

Kargoth laid a hand on his shoulder. "Come on; that ledge is wide enough!"

"And if we come across any Skaarj that may also knock us off into oblivion?"

"I have a keen eye, as you well know Miroslav. I'll knock them off first before they even see us coming."

She allowed her eyes to observe the length of his figure briefly.

"Trust me."

"You amaze me," Miroslav said, simply.

"Do I?"

Malik cleared his throat, indicating to the Sunspire.

"They're waiting for us to rescue them," he noted. "Let's not let them down."

"Who's waiting to be rescued?" Miroslav asked, interested.

"The Nali; they believe we're they're messiahs."

"Funny that," Riker shrugged. "Not the first word that springs to mind when you look at Kargoth is it?"

He flinched back sharply as Kargoth aimed to hit him around the head with the barrel of the 8-ball gun. Before any more arguments broke out and someone ended up getting knocked off the edge, Miroslav and Malik hurried them on towards the pathway over a wooden bridge. Malik was becoming rather grateful for Miroslav's presence; finally someone sensible. Towards the end of the path, Kargoth stopped them again as she sighted another Skaarj at a wooden bridge, standing guard. She knelt down, took aim with the 8-ball gun and fired another rough shot at it. Again, like before, it hit the Skaarj enough to knock it off into the lava.

"You really have got a keen eye," Miroslav stated.

"I told you to trust me," Kargoth smirked.

"You seem to notice things not so obvious to most."

"And also the incredibly obvious."

As Kargoth allowed her gaze to wonder too far down Miroslav's body, Riker hit her sharply on the arm. She turned to glare at him.

"What?" she growled.

"Temple of Vandora?" he reminded her.

"That's different!"

"Oh sure it is!"

"Yes; that was only a picture. This is the real thing."

Fortunately, the stubble on Miroslav's face hid the slight pink tones that were beginning to rise in his embarrassment. The four of them continued on towards the Sunspire, walking through the wooden doors and inside. What they were faced with was a hallway supported by pillars with three rooms on either side of them. Where to start was the first question.

"Do the words 'split up' come to mind?" Miroslav asked.

"Certainly not!" Kargoth cut in, sharply.

Miroslav glanced at her hurt expression.

"No! Not that way," he told her. "I mean to explore the Sunspire."

She smirked, stroking his stubble. "That's better."

"This is becoming unbearable," Riker shook his head, Malik agreeing.

"Oh don't I know it!" Kargoth laughed, evilly.

"I agree with Miroslav," Malik mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"We'll cover more ground."

"Exactly," Miroslav replied.

"Well, you're the security," Riker shrugged

"We'll go in two groups," the Russian explained. "Kargoth and I will take the door on the left, and you and Malik can take the door on the right. Then we can all meet back here and check out the main room ahead."

"Makes sense."

They split up into the teams. Malik and Riker climbed up the shallow sloping corridor and came into another room. They were attacked by three tentacles which were attached to the ceiling. They didn't take long to kill, especially given the excellent job that the Flak Cannon did on them. To their right were two sets of lifts and ahead of them was another doorway. They decided to take that for now, seeing as it seemed better to report the presence of the lifts when they joined back up.

"Do you think we'll find Miroslav's crew?" Riker asked.

"It looks bleak," Malik replied.

"I mean, if they're all as well trained as Miroslav."

"Yeah, but he said all of the security were dead."

"There is that, but some could have made it out."

"Perhaps. We're not even sure if any got out in the first place."

"Maybe some of them got to the Sunspire."

"Then perhaps we'll find some of them."

There was nothing worth bothering with in the room ahead, just a Nali sitting cross legged in the air, meditating. It was a mirrored floor room with a fire place at one end, some tables scattered around and a few book shelves along the walls. Nothing spectacular, and no way out. It seemed like the lifts would be there only choice. They left the room and travelled back along the corridors, past the set of lifts and into the main hallway. Miroslav and Kargoth were already there.

"Anything of interest?" Miroslav asked.

"Just some lifts and a few Tentacles," Riker replied.

"Those weird green things on the ceiling?"

Malik nodded. "The very ones."

"Perhaps we should try this door up ahead."

Miroslav indicated to it, Malik going over and holding out his Translator.

"The Primary Ascension, he read.

"That makes sense," Kargoth replied. "This Sunspire is a tall building, so I'm assuming we need to make our way to the top. That needs lifts, so something tells me that behind that door is a big lift."

"Let's try it then."

Agreeing with Kargoth's idea that they needed to reach the very top of the Sunspire, they went through the door into the Primary Ascension. Indeed, there was a lift in this room, but it was also guarded by a Skaarj. They killed it immediately, looking up to where the lift would take them.

"You're right," Malik noted. "That is a big lift."

"Let's see where it goes, eh?" Kargoth suggested.

They mounted the lift and it took them up to the upper level of the Ascension, by passing a lower one at the same time. They were attacked by another Tentacle, which Riker was able to finish off quickly with the Flak Cannon. That weapon was beginning to show itself up more and more each time it was used. In the hands of Riker, the close combat specialist, it was proving useful. There were two corridors here; one to the left and one ahead of them. For safety's sake, they first decided to go into the corridor ahead so they could come back here if needed.

They walked through the corridor into another room which was, according to Malik's Translator called a Cistern. From a corridor ahead, they were attacked by a Skaarj Trooper armed with a Razor Jack and from above, a Gas Bag floated down to join in the attack. The Gas Bag was the first to die, doing a strange little flip in the air before splashing down into the water tank. The Skaarj was killed next, ending with it dying from an ASMD blast and lying sprawled out on the floor.

They walked down another corridor and stopped as they reached a dead end and the button to operate a lift. Unfortunately, the lift shaft was going down and not up. Down was not the direction they wanted to go in. It would not help them in their quest to reach the top of the Sunspire.

"Now where?" Kargoth asked.

"We'll double back to that other corridor we bypassed," Malik noted.

Taking that as a suitable option for now, they turned round and went back the way they came. If the Sunspire was going to be a confusing maze of lift shafts and corridors, then they might need to consider mapping their locations. At least then they'd be able to see the routes they had not yet taken. Unfortunately, the other corridor also revealed a lift shaft going down.

"There's no way up from here," Malik noted.

"I say we go down then," Miroslav replied. "See if we can find a lift going up."

They all agreed to that, especially seeing that they had no other options. They pushed the button and the lift came up, all four of them squashing into the narrow space and being taken down to the next level. The shafts could have done with being a little bigger, but they'd have to do. The lift took them down to a middle level of the Primary Ascension, and here, they could already see another corridor which may give the some answers.

The walked around the centre of the lift shaft and went through the corridor, coming into another room with two corridors. After they killed the Tentacle on the ceiling, they turned to observe their options. There was one corridor ahead that was emitting some kind of eerie blue light and another similar looking corridor to their right. This was becoming confusing.

"Perhaps we should toss a coin," Riker commented.

"My gut instinct says ahead," Miroslav stated.

"Hmm, I'd rather toss than follow a Russian's gut!"

Malik crossed the small hall to the blue corridor, taking out his Translator as it bleeped him a message.

"Well, gut is the right word," he laughed. "This says 'Kitchens'."

"Great, perhaps we can steel some food!" Kargoth exclaimed.

"We'll go this way for now, we can always turn back."

They went straight ahead into the blue lit corridor, the end of which split into two different room. Both were pitch black and they could hear a strange kind of hissing noise coming from inside one of them.

"Kargoth, you know those flares…" Malik trailed off.

There was the sound of Kargoth activating one of the flares and they watched as she rolled it along the floor into the room. From the darkness, a strange looking four legged thing jumped out at them. Crying out with shock, Riker killed it with two shots from his ASMD. Peering at it, they saw it had a Skaarj-like head but the body of a strange, four legged spider-like creature. It must have been another cut off of the same species, much like the Sliths.

"What do you make of that?" Riker asked.

"I hate spiders," Kargoth grumbled.

"Even spiders with Skaarj heads?" Malik queried.

"They still look the same! Though this has only got four legs."

This room, which must have been the kitchens due to the work spaces around the walls, did not seem to lead anywhere. Above all, there was no food to pinch. It looked as if the Sunspire had actually been abandoned for some time now. They turned back out and took the other corridor, Kargoth having to lay down flares at every turn so they could see where they were going.

Eventually, they came to another split in the corridor, all of them eventually deciding to turn right. They emerged into another room, which looked like it may have been some sort of worshipping room. There was a small alter flanked by two of the stone monk statures that resembled the ones at Dark Arena.

"Another little temple," Malik shook his head.

"No strange Nali pictures this time though," Kargoth added.

Riker ignored the slight glare from his companion, blushing slightly. She was clearly not going to let him forget that. Accidentally, Kargoth dropped a flare and it activated as it hit the ground, revealing a strange kind of mechanism. Interested, she turned the wheel and the altar in the centre of the room raised up from the ground, stopping at is full height. Miroslav walked around to the other side and picked up what had been revealed inside; a Minigun.

"Fabulous!" he proclaimed. "This will suit me nicely!"

"All I need is a sniper rifle," Kargoth replied, glumly.

"I'm sure you'll get one at some point," Malik smirked.

The four of them entered the corridor ahead, being taken up to another level above by a lift. They then walked through another winding corridor, ending up at a second lift. They continued to travel higher up into the Sunspire through these lifts, which was promising. On the other end, they reached a room with a door to the outside, having to shoot down a Skaarj Trooper and a Tentacle before they could enter. On the floor lay three Russian corpses.

"They were on the Deck 1 science security team," Miroslav commented.

He walked over to one of them men, picking up his dropped data pad.

"This was Grigoriy Malenko, Deck 1 Security. He says that the team have travelled to the crystal controls in the Sunspire above to call down the Sky Lift. This is supposed to take you to the 'Na Pali Sky Haven'. Ah, I think that must be the floating rock ISV-Kran detected in engineering."

"This chap is interesting," Malik cut in.

He was knelt down by the other guy, his Translator in hand.

"Officer Vladimir Berezkev," he began. "We'll have to travel to the Sky Haven to track down the Skaarj party that took Kira, Milan and Slava. I love you Kira, I swear I'll get you back."

Malik looked up at Miroslav. "Know these people?"

"Yes," Miroslav replied. "Kira Panova, Milan Dijetsov and Vladislav Ivanov. Vladimir Berezkev and Kira Panova planned to get married as soon as ISV-Kran returned to earth. If she's still alive, she'll be destroyed to learn that Vladimir is dead."

"Then we shall have to find her," Kargoth put in.

"Hmm, the news is grave, but it's better than letting her wait to be rescued by someone who's never going to come."

"Is it a good idea to go to this Sky Haven place?" Riker queried.

"At the moment, it's the only option we've got."

Agreeing on that, the four of them left the inside for the winding passageway up the side of the Sunspire. They eventually climbed to the top, Kargoth stopping their ascent briefly to blast a Skaarj off the edge of the pathway with the 8-ball gun. It took them a few minutes to make it into another corridor nearer to the top of the Sunspire. They were almost there. On the inside again, they made it into another small area with several lifts in them.

Miroslav walked over to one side, but those lift shafts were travelling back down into the room where Vladimir and Grigoriy were discovered dead. On the other side however, were two lift shafts which were massively long, lit with red lights and going straight up to the top.

"Going up?" he asked.

The four of them piled into the small lift shaft, the platform taking them up to a great height with high velocity. After a few seconds or so of travelling up in the lifts getting their hair blasted by the wind rushing past them, they arrived on the highest level of the Sunspire. Ahead of them was a doorway with an inscription written on the wall next to it. According to Malik's Translator, this was called 'The Chamber of Crystals'.

"This is where we call the Sky Lift," Miroslav stated.

"Then let's get out of here!" Kargoth proclaimed.

They entered the chamber of crystals, being faced with a dark room with some kind of shaft in the centre. Riker crossed round to the mechanism and pulled on the lever, activating something deep under the floor. A set of panels moved aside on the floor and a blue-purple coloured crystal was raised up, a beam of light shining up from the top and into the sky once it locked into place.

"Like the Torch of Tranquillity," Riker recalled.

"Let's get to that lift, quickly!" Malik ordered.

The four of them ran from the room and down the other corridor to an area outside, having to fend of two of the spiders and one Tentacle on the ceiling. They dashed up the stairs, Malik pausing to read another inscription on the wall.

"Prepare to embark," he read.

"There it is!" Miroslav proclaimed.

He pointed into the sky as a box shaped object floated down towards them, a small bell on it somewhere. The four of them moved round to the front of it as it descended towards them and slowly came to a stop in front of them. The door opened and made a ramp for them, all of them getting on it slowly. As it slowly rose back up into the sky, the doors began to close again.

"I wonder where this is taking us," Riker queried.

"The Na Pali Sky Haven I take it," Kargoth replied.

"No, I mean I wonder what it's like."

"I guess we'll find out."


	20. 20 Gateway to Na Pali

**Chapter 20 – Gateway to Na Pali**

After several moments of travelling up in the Sky Lift, Malik and Riker were beginning to get board of Kargoth and Miroslav's conversation. Yes, it was nice to see her finally getting along with someone and putting her murderous ways behind her, but she was overly infatuated with the Russian. However, fortunately they didn't have long to endure the conversation before the Sky Lift stopped. The door opened and made the ramp across to the other side, which appeared to be a length of caves cut into a strange floating rock.

"So this is what confused ISV-Kran's sensors!" Miroslav proclaimed.

"A strange, hovering lumping of rock in the sky," Kargoth stated.

"This must be the Na Pali Sky Haven the Nali kept talking about in their books," Riker cut in. "After all that stuff about the Temple of Chizra, the Temple of Vandora and the Sunspire, this must be their one place left."

"So what are we supposed to be doing?" Miroslav asked.

"According to all the Nali texts, we're the messiahs, remember?"

"So basically, we just have to free them from all these Skaarj creatures?"

"Sounds about right."

"Then perhaps this is a good place to start."

"Perhaps we'll locate Kira and the others," Kargoth noted.

Miroslav needed. "She'll need to know about Vladimir."

The four of them disembarked and entered the caves, leaving the Sky Lift behind them. They turned a corner through a doorway and entered another room which appeared to be a strange, underground stream. In the cavern were two other creatures which no one had seen before. They carried long, metal staffs which looked like a strange kind of weapon; they also didn't look like they could be any genetic relation to the Skaarj, like the Sliths and the Spiders.

But whatever they were, they were not friendly. They immediately started to fire on them with their staffs, emitting green bolts of energy. One of them narrowly missed Kargoth's head, travelling on towards the wall and creating a burn mark. The four of them attacked the two creatures, not taking long to bring them down. Interested, Malik approached one of them with his translator.

"Hmm," he noted. "The Krall Elite."

"What the hell is that?" Kargoth asked.

"This creature's some kind of soldier. Species Krall, I imagine."

"They don't seem as bad as the Mercs."

Miroslav glanced at her. "Mercs?"

"Yeah, the aliens at Terraniux. This was before ISV-Kran."

"How many strange creatures live on this planet?"

"One more than yesterday," Malik noted.

He put his translator away and got to his feet, watching as a barred gate rose up at one end of the river.

"Fancy a swim anyone?" he asked.

"I suppose I'd better test this scuba gear," Miroslav noted.

"Well, we can't have you drowning!"

Placing the aqualung pipes into their mouths, they dived into the stream and swam through it via the open gate. They noted the presence of another gate at the opposite end, but they decided not to worry about that for now. Eventually, they came to a waterfall that concealed another cavern, the four of them having to swim down to avoid the cold splash back. They climbed up into the cave, the only occupants being a dead body and his weapon.

"Fabulous!" Kargoth exclaimed. "Just what I need!"

She knelt down and picked up the weapon, peering through the scope and pleased that it was still working. She spotted the ammunition belt, picking it up and strapping it across one shoulder.

"So, you found your sniper rifle," Malik smirked.

"I've been waiting for one of these!" she grinned.

"Looks like you're second best, Miroslav."

Miroslav laughed as he knelt down besides the corpse and picked up the discargded PDA pad. He scrolled through it, taking note on some of the things before reaching the last entry.

"He said he's the last one left," he stated.

"Of who?" Malik asked.

"Engineers; this guy's not security."

"Why did he carry a sniper rifle?"

"For protection I imagine; even engineers are allowed to carry weapons."

"It didn't do him much good though."

"Hmm, the rest of this entry says 'There's some kind of strange town built on top of this floating rock. I'll try and reach it in the morning. I hope they don't find me sleeping here tonight'. That's all."

"I guess they found him."

"Sorry to interrupt," Riker cut in. "But what does this do?"

He pointed to a lever, Malik glancing at it.

"That must be the controls to that other gate!" he proclaimed.

He crossed the room and pulled it back. Hoping that this was the controls for the other gate, the four of them dived back into the water and swam back towards the main cavern under the waterfall. As they'd hoped for, the gate had been raised and they swam through it, travelling deeper into the floating rock. Eventually, they came to an end, the river falling away as another waterfall. They climbed up onto the wooden surface, Miroslav revving up his Minigun and shooting the Tentacle on the ceiling.

They stood on a lift which took them up to another level above, this room leading back into the upper levels of the cave they were in before. Ahead of them, a Krall became startled to their presence and ran off ahead of them over a bridge. They followed it into another corridor, Miroslav mowing it down with his weapon he found in the Sunspire. It was becoming incredibly useful. They came to an area outside, standing on a wooden walkway above the clouds below.

"Lovely view," Kargoth commented.

"Anyone afraid of heights?" Malik asked.

"I'm not too keen on them," Riker noted, glumly.

Miroslav shrugged. "Neither here nor there."

"Of course not, you're a man!" Kargoth noted, pointedly.

"So I'm a little afraid of heights," Riker argued. "Doesn't make me less of a man!"

"No, just a little less… err… masculine than Miroslav."

"I won't disagree."

Kargoth suddenly stopped them all from advancing further, indicating across the wooden bridge. On the other side was a Skaarj Trooper which had not seen them yet, but was standing with his back to them, looking over the edge. Perhaps it wasn't too fond of heights either. Kargoth took aim with her sniper rifle, looking through the scope and targeting the crosshair onto the head. With one squeeze of the trigger, she fired a single bullet which cut through the air and knocked the Skaarj's head off.

"Headshot!" she laughed.

"Wonderful!" Malik exclaimed.

"You have a natural aim," Miroslav commented.

"I've always like to think that," Kargoth replied.

"Almost an aim to rival mine."

"Almost?"

He smirked. "And only almost. You haven't seen my aim."

"We'll see."

They crossed the rest of the walkway undisturbed, Malik stopping briefly to reload his Stinger which was in dire need of attention. He'd been using the Bio Rifle a little too much and almost neglecting his other weapon. They travelled into more caves, the walls protruding with the blue Tarydium crystals, casting a glowing blue light all around them. That didn't seem to mesmerise the Krall enough to leave them alone. But these aliens appeared stupid and eventually succumbed to their weapons, but they didn't really have much choice in the matter.

After crossing a second bridge over a river, they arrived at a doorway which was guarded by a Skaarj sniper. They brought it down quick enough, its aim not enough to rival Kargoth's. They pushed the doors open after she reloaded quickly, turning a corner on the mirrored floor until they reached another door. A Skaarj Warrior lunged out at them, tearing a shallow rip into Riker's T-shirt with its wrist blades. For that, the alien suffered the consequences at the might of Riker's Flak Cannon.

"Thankfully only the shirt got ripped," he noted.

"Good," Kargoth noted. "The less we use of the medical kits, the better."

"Oh, and I thought you'd be caring for my welfare!"

"Since when have I ever done that?"

Riker shrugged. "Fair comment."

They climbed the stairs that they were faced with, working their way slowly to the top until the met another pair of doors. They pushed them open and walked into a wooden room that looked like some kind of basement. They walked up the stairs and found two more doors that seemed to be the roof of the cellar. Carefully, they pushed them open and felt the cool breeze of the outside world blowing on their faces.


End file.
